


Number Eight | The Flesh Weaver x Number Five | The Boy

by WitchofDawn



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Blood and Gore, During Canon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multi, POV Original Female Character, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protectiveness, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:55:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 46,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26016880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchofDawn/pseuds/WitchofDawn
Summary: Number Eight has the power to heal tissue back together. Only if she can focus.After loosing Five and Ben, she's thrown in a state of mental turmoil, freezing her body. When Five returns on the day of Reginald's funeral, things aren't the same as they once were between them.Follows the main canon of Season 1 & 2 with slight alterations.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts, Dolores/Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Number Five | The Boy & Original Character(s), Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy)/Reader
Comments: 19
Kudos: 207





	1. Give Them Hell Kid

_Summer 2005_

Five tapped impatiently as I tried to heal his wounds. The rest of the academy returned from taking down a drug cartel the next state over, while Seven and I stayed home, of course. I always hated Reginald’s persistence of keeping me at home even though I’m not powerless like Seven. Not to hate her, she’s talented at the violin but..

“Ah!”

Distracted from my thoughts, I accidentally created a similar wound on myself while I was trying to heal Five.

“Shit!”

I grab the new gash at my side in pain feeling tears prick my eyes, finally focusing on closing the layers of skin torn through. My power is so fickle about focus, I have to focus on each layer of tissue for my healing to work effectively. Even then it’s slow.

“Eight, you idiot,” Five sighed as he went to grab gauze for you mistake.

Not taken called an idiot lightly, I snarked at him why he even was injured when he’s usually so calculating. “I thought you were better than to get injured.”

Five presses the gauze hard onto my ribs. I squint hard in pain. I go to say something to Five, only to notice how close our faces are. He’s still looking down at my ribs, but he looks so focused. I admire it for a moment.

“Did I- accidentally take your cut…? If not, I should heal you first. I can deal with myself later,” I say taking the gauze from him, covering his hands with mine. I absent-mindedly stroke his hand with my thumb, feeling my heard speed when I realize what I did. He realizes it’s not his responsibility anymore and takes his hands away.

“Yeah- looks like it’s all healed on me. Next time don’t lose your head. You’d hate Reginald to see a blunder like that,” Five says, straightening out his collar and uniform. He goes to leave the room before turning back to me, “I’ll see you at dinner.”

Sitting there in the medic room for what feels like eons, I imagine what it must be like to be a normal teen girl with a crush. But none of this is normal. Four will most likely be in here again later, to deal with whatever drugs he took from the cartel. I find a book on drug related ailments, putting it on the desk for later. Six comes in the room somber, drenched in what I can only guess is someone else’s blood.

“So, where’s your injury?” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

_Fall 2005_

_Blood, everywhere. My siblings torn to shreds, unhealable, I dread. I get down on my knees as I try to put the closest piece of Three back together. It’s no use. I can’t put limbs back together. I see Five’s body. I run to it, seeing his head bashed in, nearly unrecognizable._

_I still try. I can’t._

_I’m powerless._

_I’m useless._

_I can’t save him._

I wake up hyperventilating. Realizing it was a dream didn’t help, still feeling the pain in my chest as tears roll down my cheeks. A nasty bubble of spit pops in my mouth. I feel like throwing up. Then I remember my siblings in the rooms nearby. I don’t want them to hear me. I try to tuck my head under the covers to muffle the sounds.

It’s not real. I tell myself.

It couldn’t happen.

Everyone could protect themselves.

They’re not the people father brings in for me to practice on.

Under the covers I see a wisp of blue, and try to hold my mouth shut. I tighten my hold on the blankets covering me, even if I feel a little lightheaded. Whenever Five jumps it makes me feel dizzy, almost if I’m allergic. I definitely didn’t want _him_ to see me like this. I told him about my dreams before of strangers I can’t help, but not about the nightmares of losing my family.

“I heard you from the other room,” he says finally. Shit. “You don’t need to talk about it.”

There’s a long pause before I break a let out a choked sob. I try to ignore that Five heard me. I worry what he’s thinking, but I’m not curious enough to face him like this. Not like this.

“How about I get you a chocolate milk from the kitchen,” Five offers “Then I can leave you alone.”

I nod through the blanket, and in a couple flashes, milk is delivered and Five is gone. I finally pull down the covers to grab the glass, noticing a note next to it:

anytime you need to talk (sorry about the jumps)\- Five

I was able to calm down throughout the day, continuing my studying for Dad’s medical tests. Even if I couldn’t heal everything properly with my powers, I might as well learn how to do it practically, he reasoned to me. I met with my siblings standing at the dinner table, already feeling the tension, as Dad walked into the room. He stood in front of his chair, as we all stood in front of ours refraining from making eye contact.

“Sit” he commanded, while pulling out his own chair.

We all took our seats in a synchronized fashion. While eating the fish and vegetables on my plate, I could see One and Three eyeing each other, and to my other side Four rolling a joint under the table. Five sits in his chair irritated twisting his fork. Five turns directly to Dad- he’s going to challenge him. I gulp. Five stabs his knife into the kitchen table and the rest of the family turns.

“Number Five-”

“I have a question.”

Reginald looks back down more interested in his meal. “Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules, no talking during meal times. You are interrupting Harr Carlson.”

“I want to time travel.”

My breath skips hearing that. I know Five has mentioned the possibility of it, but he’s also mentioned the fickleness of time- I never liked the idea in case something went wrong. Reginald lets out a drawn-out no.

“But I’m ready. I’ve been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said.” Five gets out of his chair and jumps next to Dad. “See?”

“A spatial jump is trivial when compared to the unknowns of time travel. One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn,” he says finishing with a sip of his wine.

“Well, I don’t get it,” Five says with a fake smile.

“Hence the reason you’re not ready.

Seven shakes her head no to Five. I give him a pleading look in hopes he drops it.

“I’m not afraid.” Idiot.

“Fear isn’t the issue,” Reginald responds. “The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable. Dad drops his silverware in frustration. “Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore.”

Five walks out.

“Number Five!”

My heart drops.

“You haven’t been excused! Come back here!”

I hear the front door open and close. He’s gone.

Five doesn’t come back.

  
☂

Five runs outside and makes his first leap through time.

The air, sounds of the city, and people change all around him. He did it. He jumped through time.

“Not ready my ass,” he scoffs.

Smirking he jumps again, this time the city is in the dead of winter. He jumps ahead again, until he notices everything is destroyed. The city’s in ruins. He instantly thinks about his family and sprints back to the academy. It’s in ruins. He calls for Eight. Seven. Six. Even Dad. Anyone. He tries to jump back through time, but it’s a futile effort. He looks back at the academy from its steps. He thinks about everyone he left behind.

He starts crying.

☂

_Winter 2006_

It’s been months since Five disappeared. Seven has been putting out fluffernutters for Five every night in case he returns. I-I don’t know. He could be lost forever. I try not to think too hard about it. I started to keep a journal for Five. Anytime my anxiety spikes, I write in that notebook as if I could vent to Five about it. I sometimes like to pretend he has something to say back. Sometimes it’s a snarky response, but maybe it’s enough to calm me down. I wonder if he’d find me keeping this funny or pathetic.

I’ve tried to talk to Four if he’s- god forbid- seen Five’s ghost, but he hasn’t seen anything. So maybe he’s alive. He just left us behind.

I’m studying for another one of Reginald’s exams when everyone bursts into the medical room with Six’s body. It’s horrific. I jokingly thought they’d be no injuries today.

My heart starts racing, I feel frozen. Reginald yells at me to heal number Six. It’s worse than what I’ve seen in my nightmares, anything Reginald showed me during training. I can’t. I get closer, and I can’t find a distinguishable part of Six. It looks like mass and blood. My hands are shaking as I try to touch him.

“Eight!” Hargreaves yells at me.

I press my hands down, getting them covered in blood. I start hyperventilating. I’m trying to figure out what pieces connect to where as tears roll down my face. I’m lost.

“Useless!” he pushes me out of the way, and I break down. I cover my neck and mouth, but I can’t stop the tears. I’m useless. I can’t save my brother. Grace and Pogo swoop in to try and help Reginald do anything to save Six. I can’t move. I just stare at the bright lights for what feels like an eternity.

Six’s funeral came on a snowy morning. We all line up one by one to greet the coffin outside. I stare at the casket, my brain flashing back to my failure with him. Everyone looks at the coffin somber.

“Your father is ready to give the eulogy, children,” Pogo states.

“The world is full of injustice. Good people die along with the bad. This cosmic equation will never change unless evil itself is wiped from existence. Thankfully, there are powerful forces pushing back, against the wicked and iniquitous, individuals who have the strength to pull together against insurmountable odds to face adversity with unblinking courage, and not to hesitate to sacrifice themselves for another,” Reginald continues, “Unfortunately, none of you are such people. Despite years of training and weeks of preparation, you allowed Number Six to die on this mission.”

I choke on my tears.

“It wasn’t our fault,” Three’s voice cracks.

“Excuses? I will not hear them. The Umbrella Academy has failed one of their own, the consequences of which are dire. Hold on to this feeling, children. Let it fester in your hearts… so there is never a next time.” He pauses. It’s unbearable. “Training will be canceled today out of respect for your brother. We resume tomorrow at 6:00 am.”

Three is right, it wasn’t my siblings’ fault. It was mine. I couldn’t act. I couldn’t pull up any courage to try to save Six. I run to my room and don’t look back. I fumble with the knob, but manage to lock the door. I curl down in the corner, crying, wanting to cocoon myself away. I miss Six, he was always a light in our group. I miss Five. I can’t talk to anyone else here. I just want to shed my body, to wake up from this nightmare.

I fall asleep as my body freezes.


	2. We Only Get Together For Weddings and Funerals

_2019_

I wake up groggy from the night before, looking to see a body next to me. Oh, that happened. I take a deep breath and pick up my clothes from the floor, trying not to wake them up. I realize how ridiculous it was for me not to bring something other than heels, after walking a couple blocks. I hail a taxi to get back to my apartment. I never left the city, even though it would’ve be wiser to. After fumbling with keys, I find a letter under my door. Turning it over, it has an umbrella logo on it.

“Shit.”

I fully undress to take a shower, contemplating whether or not to open the letter. I let my head hit the shower wall while I contemplate my options. Is there anything worth going back to there? Is it worth the constant reminder of grand expectations from Reginald? The reminder of people I lost? Ben and Five flash in my mind. I shake my head and let the shower water run down my face. What if the letter is about Grace or Pogo? The only loving forces in that household would be worth it.

I make up my mind, and after getting comfortably dressed, I open the letter hoping for the worst.

Dear Miss Eight, if you still decide to go by that title,

Sir Reginald Hargreaves has unfortunately passed away last night. We welcome you to the funeral service along with your other siblings. I’ve also attached the coroner’s report in case you were interested.

Sincerely,

Pogo

Oh, that’s not as bad as I thought.

I head to the Umbrella Academy by Taxi, after being unsure what to wear. I debated wearing something more formal, but just went with casual black. Knowing my siblings, I’ll be under and overdressed for the occasion. The taxi stops in front, and I take a moment to breathe it in. Reginald is dead. His own cruel heart took him down. He can’t hurt us anymore.

I knock on the door, to be greeted by Pogo.

“Welcome home Miss Eight.”

“Hello Pogo, I missed you. How have things been since he passed?”

“Quiet. Your siblings are wandering their old home. Feel free to explore.”

I walk into the old dining room, seeing Mom looking like she’s lost in thought. Can robots grieve? I decide not to disturb her, and look at the memorabilia on the walls. Then my eye catch it. The painting of Five that was done after he went missing. I stare at it a little too long, now noticing that they never quite captured the blue of his eyes. It’s not like I’ll ever see them again.

I wander upstairs to our old bedrooms, finding mine the way it was left. Exactly the way I left it. I guess Mom never cleaned it after I left. Curious from that, I pull up my mattress, to find the journal still wedged on top of the bedframe. My journal to Five. I plop down on the bed, wondering if I should open it, and read through a bit of the past. Instead I decide to put it in Five’s room, under his pillow. Closing the door to his room, I feel like a little weight has been lifted from me.

Now it’s time to say sayonara to Reginald.

I head back down to the dining room and run into Allison on the stairs.

“Hey… So it’s been a while,” I say.

“Yeah, it has,” Allison says awkwardly, “So how have you been adjusting to the outside world?”

“Well enough, in my way. I hear about your family on TV,” I say trying to continue a conversation. “…I think it’s unfair people tabloid your relationship.”

Allison gives a curt agreement with my statement, and heads to reminisce in other parts of the house. Feeling a little down from ruining that conversation, I sit in the dining room until everyone else can join for the service. I encounter Vanya already there, and not wanting to make things awkward with both sisters, I just tell her it’s nice to see her again.

After everyone’s in the room and suffocating silence, Luther stands to speak to everyone.

“Um… I guess we can get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at Dad’s favorite spot.”

“Dad had a favorite spot?” Allison asks.

“You know, under the oak tree,” Luther answers. Everyone in the room looks just as lost as I am. “We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?” My face cringes.

“Will there be refreshments?” Klaus asks bringing himself as the center of attention with a lit cigarette and brandy, “Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner.”

“What? No. And put that out. Dad didn’t allow smoking in here,” Luther scolds.

“Is that my skirt?” Allison asks, then I notice maybe Klaus didn’t wear that in.

“-What. Oh, yeah, this. I found it in your room. It’s a little dated, I know, but it’s very breathy on the bits.”

“Listen up,” Luther interjects, “Still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?”

“Like what?” Diego finally speaks.

“Like the way he died.”

“And here we go.”

“I don’t understand. I thought they said it was a heart attack,” Vanya says.

“Yeah, according to the coroner,” Luther rebuttals.

I chime in. “The coroner’s report looked pretty genuine Luther, there were no anomalies that I could see. They would know.”

“Theoretically.”

“Theoretically?” Allison asks.

“I’m just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange.”

“Oh, _quelle surprise_!” Klaus chimes, gurgling on his alcohol.

“Strange how?” asks Allison. I think most of us in the room are picking up Luther’s bullshit.

“He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust.”

“Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles,” Diego states, looking like he’s starting a confrontation. As much as I hate agreeing with B-batman….

“No. He must have known something was going to happen,” Luther turns to Klaus. “Look, I know you don’t like to do it, but I need you to talk to dad.”

Allison scoffs. Luther really thinks Klaus is going to get sober enough to talk to Reginald? He must be crazy from the moon.

“I can’t just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, ‘Dad, could you just… stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?’”

“Since when? That’s your thing,”

“I’m not in the right… frame of mind.”

“You’re high?” Allison asks.

Klaus laughs, “Yeah! Yeah! I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?”

God it all feels ridiculous.

“Well, sober up, this is important,” Luther commands. Klaus sighs. “Then there’s the issue of the missing monocle.”

“Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?” Diego asks snidely.

“Exactly,” Luther states, “It’s worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge.” He looks at everyone and the room and stops at me.

“Where are you going with this?” Klaus asks bewildered.

“Oh, isn’t it obvious, Klaus?” Diego asks turning to Luther, “He thinks one of us killed Dad.”

Everyone hears Luther swallow his throat.

“You do?” Klaus half whines.

“How could you say that?” Vanya asks.

“You think one of us really hated him that much?” I asked, trying to refrain from calling him Reginald. I understand everyone calls him Dad for simplicity, but I’m still uneasy after reevaluating our relationship years ago.

“Great job, Luther. Way to lead,” Diego remarks.

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“You’re crazy, man. You’re crazy.” Klaus says as he gets more liquor, “Crazy.”

“I’ve not finished.”

“Sorry, I’m just gonna go murder Mom. Be right back,” Klaus says as he leaves the room.

“That’s not what I was saying. I didn’t-.”

I take this as my queue to leave the room as well. I head out to the garden, away from everyone else. I see the statue of Ben, back when I knew him as Six. My heart aches.

“Hey Ben, I’m sorry for what happened all that time ago. Not like you can hear me or anything, but-” I search for the words. “I hope you’re doing better wherever you are.”

I sit in the yard trying to think of what he might’ve thought about Reginald’s-Dad to him, death. He’d probably be disappointed in Klaus being high. I laugh a little. I hear a record being played inside the house. God, what a cheesy song choice.

_I think we’re alone now_

I can’t help myself and start taping my feet to the song. I dance a little, breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the solitude. Maybe things can be better now. I spin closing my eyes, feeling genuinely happy for a moment.

Until a flash of blue cracks the sky.

I’m knocked on my ass from the sight. I feel like the wind is knocked out of me. I feel light-headed, like I did all those years ago with-SLAM. I turn to see the rest of the family coming out to investigate the blue storm.

“Holy-“

“What is it?” Vanya asks.

“Don’t get too close!” Allison warns as she helps me to my feet.

“Yeah no shit!” Diego yells.

“Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two,” Luther states.

“Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan!”

“Out of the way!” Klaus yells as he flings a fire extinguisher into the vortex.

There’s no way it could be.?

“What is that gonna do!?” Allison asks.

“I don’t know. Do you have a better idea!?”

“Everybody get behind me!” Luther commands.

“Yeah, get behind us!” Diego retorts. Great time to have a machismo war, boys.

“I vote for running, c’mon!” Klaus yells. I grab Klaus by his arm so he can’t.

There was more crackling from the portal, as something appears to emerge from it. Suddenly it drops and the portal disappears as fast as it came.

“Oh my god,” I murmur.

In front of us, is Five. My brain goes blank, but notices how he’s wearing an oversized suit. He looks at us just as bewildered.

“Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?

Five looks down at his clothes and back at us.

“Shit.”

We all follow Five as he forces his way to the kitchen, and I can’t help but stare at him. He looks the exact same as when he left. I have so many questions, every fiber of my body needs to know what happened. We all stare at Five, as he rummages through the cabinets in the kitchen before deciding to speak to us.

He sighs. “What’s the date? The exact date.” He grabs bread from the cabinet.

Vanya answers, “The 24th.”

“Of what?”

“March.”

“Good.”

I don’t understand what could be going through his head right now. Good? The date is Good? What the hell does that mean.

“So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?” Luther asks him.

Five puts two slices of bread on the board, after hearing that question I can see his knuckles turning white.

“It’s been 17 years,” Luther continues.

Five scoffs. “It’s been a lot longer than that.” He flashes behind Luther for what I can guess is peanut butter and fluff, giving my head a spin in the process. He used to be so conscious about jumping near me.

“Where’d you go?” Diego asks him.

“The future,” Five blinks again, and I’m starting to wince my face, “It’s shit, by the way.”

“Called it,” Klaus says pointingly.

“I should’ve listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice.”

He spreads some peanut butter on his bread. Then looks back at us.

“Nice dress,” he says to Klaus.

“Oh, well, danke!”

Vanya raises her hand to speak, “Wait so how did you get back?” That’s what I want to know, Why couldn’t you come back sooner?

“In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time.”

“That makes no sense,” Diego states.

“Well, it would if you were smarter,” Five remarks. Well, I guess Five didn’t lose that snark while he was time traveling.

“How long where you there?” Luther asks, stopping Diego, from probably punching Five.

“Forty-Five years,” Five says quietly, “Give or take.”

My jaw is definitely hanging at this point.

“Wait, so you’re 58?” I ask Five. God my eyes must be popping out of my skull at this point.

“No, my consciousness is 58.” He finishes his sandwich. “My body is 16 again.”

He takes a bite out of the fluffernutter with too many marshmallows. I’m still confused.

“Wait, how does that even work? Vanya asks.

“Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh.” He takes another bite. “Bet she’s laughing now.”

“Delores?” I ask. Five ignores my question and picks up the newspaper.

“Guess I missed the funeral.”

“How’d you know about that?” Luther asks.

“What part of the future do you not understand? Heart failure huh?”

“Yeah” “No”

“I’ve seen nothings changed,” as Five walks out of the kitchen.

Allison buts in, “Uh, that’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“What else is there to say? Circle of life.”

“Well…” Luther remarks, “That was interesting.”

I slip out of the kitchen from the others to go ask Five more questions. Is Five really saying he’s been stuck for 45 years? I need to know why he came now.

I mourned him for years. Then he shows up to the academy non-challant, like it’s not a big deal? Flashes around like it’s no business when, last I saw him, it took him a while to flash, not to mention the sudden dismissal of my reaction to his jumps. Why does he just not care all of a sudden? I doubt he’d forget. I just catch up to Five as he’s leaving his room.

“Five, we need to talk,” I say trying my best to be assertive, “I need clarification, why do you look so young?”

“I was gonna mention how youthful you look yourself,” he remarks, twisting his cuffs. My face heats up.

“I- um-,” I swallow my throat, “-Yeah.”

“You can tell me about it later, after Dad’s funeral,” he says smirking, patting the back of my shoulder. “I want to see how much this place has changed first.”

He jumps away, making me dizzy again to the point I almost loose balance.

“When did you turn to a piece of shit?”


	3. Blood

We all walk out in the rain, almost lined up like we did all those years ago for Ben. Except this time, Five is here.

“Something happened?” Mom asks. Everyone turns to her.

“Dad died. Remember?” Allison states.

“Oh. Yes, of course.”

“Is mom okay?” Allison asks the group.

“Yeah, yeah, she’s fine.” Diego answers. “She just needs to rest. You know, recharge.”

Pogo steps out giving Luther the go ahead. Luther unceremoniously dumps the ashes on the ground like a toddler would dump sand out their shoes. “Probably would’ve been better with some wind.”

“Does anyone wish to speak?” Pogo asks. We all avert the question. “Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreaves made me what I am today. For that alone I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master…and my friend, and I shall miss him very much.”

I feel sorrow for Pogo. I understand none of us were very fond of Reginald, but maybe, if anything he was good to Pogo.

“He leaves behind a complicated legacy—”

“He was a monster.” Diego remarks. I stare at him, for interrupting Pogo’s eulogy. Klaus laughs. “He was a bad person and a worse father. The worlds better off without him.”

“Diego,” Allison cuts in.

“My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn’t be bothered to give us actual names. He had mom do it.” I feel a little pain in my chest, before Mom asks if we want to eat anything.

“No it’s okay mom,” Vanya tells her.

“Look you want to pay your respects. Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was.”

“You should stop talking now,” Luther threatens.

I can’t believe they’re going to do this at the funeral.

“If anything you should be on my side Number One.”

“Diego, stop talking.”

“After everything he did to you. He had to ship you a million miles away. That’s how much he couldn’t stand the sight of you!”

I wince, turning my head. That’s my failure. Diego doesn’t know that, but his words still hurt. They start fighting each other in the yard. Klaus tries to usher Five away from them. Pogo gets tired of it and heads inside. I turn to leave myself, when I see Five tagging along with me.

“We don’t have time for this,” he states.

I hear a crash, and look back to see Ben’s statue destroyed. Those fucking idiots. I don’t care for disrespecting Dad’s funeral- just don’t disrespect _Ben_.

Five and I head back to the kitchen, where he’s scouring for more food. Feeling like shit from Diego’s remarks, I try to calm myself by heating some tea. Allison enters the room asking where Vanya went.

“She’s gone,” answered Klaus.

“That’s unfortunate,” remarked Five.

“Yeah.”

“An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee,” Five says obviously frustrated.

“You know Dad hated caffeine,” Allison says.

“I’m taking the car, would you like to join Eight?”

“Wait, where?” I ask him.

“To get a decent cup of coffee.”

“Do you even know how to drive?” asks Allison crossing her arms.

“I know how to do everything,” he says before grabbing my hand and jumping away. My head rushes as we jump through, and as we land, my brain feels like it was dropped from the roof.

I grip my head, holding onto his shoulder for support. “Five! Don’t you remember my head!?”

“Well, we got to the car faster, didn’t we?”

I’m shocked at his response. “When did you become a prick?”

“First, you get to tell me why you’re not 32- in the car,” he says, opening the passenger door for me. I climb inside, putting on my seatbelt. Five gets in the car and starts the engine.

“Are you going to put on a seat belt?” I ask since it seems he has no plans to.

“Why would I use a seat belt, when I can spatial jump out of the car?” He asks like I’m dumb.

“okay.”

We sit in the car for a bit, but Five doesn’t drive anywhere yet. “Whenever you’re ready to talk about it.”

“Start driving and I’ll explain,” I say as he starts driving slowly. I take a couple deep breaths that don’t go unnoticed, but start anyway. “After Ben died, I couldn’t handle losing both my brothers so close to each other. I didn’t have anyone to turn to.” Five furrows his brow. “I just stopped functioning…. Um- I don’t know if you’ve heard about tardigrades… they can freeze their bodies, for a long time without any cell decay or growth. I somehow froze the cells in my body after I shut down. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that Reginald woke me up from that frozen state to heal Luther after a bad mission. I couldn't- it didn’t work out so… I left. I’ve been aging normally after waking up.”

Five pulls into the Griddy’s parking lot. God, I missed this place.

“Now you need to share with me.”

“After we get coffee,” he says, sounding slightly drained.

“Actually, this time?” I ask as we walk into the doughnut shop.

“Yes, but one more question first,” He says as he sits next to an older man before turning to me, “How would you say your anxiety been?”

I’m thrown back by the forwardness of the question, but I tell him it’s been better.

“Good.”

The waitress comes around asking the man his order, and misunderstanding that Five isn’t with him, asks what the kid will have.

“Coffee. Black.” He says with a shit eating smile.

“Cute kid,” She remarks before leaving around the back.

I give Five a look, and he starts. “A lot happened in those 45 years, Eight.”

The waitress comes back around with his coffee and the other man’s doughnut. “Here.”

“I go this,” the man gestured, giving the waitress cash.

Five turns to the man, thanking him, sounding the sincerest since he returned. The man leaves with his doughnut soon afterward. As Five silently sips his coffee, out of the corner of my eye, I see armed men entering the doughnut shop. I turn forward, and Five instantly takes notice of my fear. A gunman points at his head, and I notice that they’re all focused on him. My heart is pounding, my whole body feeling like it’s going to freeze again.

“That was fast,” Five states, still looking forward. “I thought they’d have more time before they found me.”

The gunman closest to Five speaks first, “Okay. Lets all be professional about this, yeah?” I can see Five sarcastically nod. “On your feet and come with us. They want to talk.”

“I’ve got nothing to say.”

My heart feels like it’s trying to race a hare, and I’m not even quite sure if I’m breathing at this point.

“It doesn’t have to go this way. You think I want to shoot a kid? Go home with that on my conscious?”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Five responds, turning to him, “You won’t be going home.”

I see Fives hand turn to the silverware, and I instinctively crumble to the ground. Five blinks stabbing the gunman, bullets raining immediately after. I try to crawl around the counter, before Five jumps me behind the counter before he fights the rest. My head starts pounding. I try to grab a tray to block stray bullets, and I see Five laying on the counter.

“Hey, assholes,” I hear him say before he blinks again.

I just try to cover my ears as all the guns go off. I wince at every groan of pain, every body that drops to the floor. My head feels lighter with each thud to the ground. Once it stops, I slowly peak over the counter. Twelve dead men line the floor. Five killed them all. I see him readjusting his tie, groaning, before picking up a device on the floor. Speechless, I watch him as he stabs his arm with a butter knife, pulling out a beeping device.

I try to sound as calm as possible, “Five. What the fuck.”

“Like I started, a lot happened.”


	4. Run Boy Run

Five didn’t want to tell me anything about what the fuck that was about, until we could get somewhere safe. Somewhere they wouldn’t find him. Who are ‘They’? I try to calm myself in the car breathing and holding. Breathe in. Hold. Out. Hold. I look towards Five, who must’ve already been looking at me concerned. I turn away, not wanting to speak, towards the bright lights of New York at night.

He stops us in front of an apartment complex, which I learn is where Vanya lives when we get inside. I don’t live that far from here. Five asks Vanya for coffee so he can speak to the two of us. Something about us being the more sensible siblings. I stare at Five for a while, trying to read him. I can’t. I just don’t know who this is anymore. After taking a few sips of his coffee, he begins to recount the day he left us. Telling us how the future he jumped to was in ruins.

“I survived on scraps. Canned food, Cockroaches.” I shiver hearing that.

“Anything I could find,” he snorts. “You know that rumor that twinkies have an endless shelf life? Well, it’s total bullshit.”

“I can’t even imagine,” Vanya murmurs. I see it though, actual solitude and hell. I know I’ve felt alone without him, but he had no one. Nothing.

“You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die.” I- don’t think I would’ve survived the same. “So we adapted. Whatever the world through at us, we found a way to overcome it.”

“We?” I ask.

Five turns to Vanya, “You have anything stronger?”

Vanya gets Five alcohol, which he shoots down fast. He looks like he’s gonna laugh at Vanya, “You think I’m crazy.”

“No- it’s just- It’s a lot to take in.”

“Exactly what don’t you understand?”

“Why didn’t you time travel back?” I ask him, knowing Vanya and I were thinking about it.

He scoffs. “Gee, wish I’d thought of that. Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed.” I sorrowfully look at him. “You think I didn’t try everything to get back to my family?” I advert my gaze.

“If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?” Vanya asks. Guess he never acorn-ed. A little smile grows on my face with the thought.

Five scoffs again. “I told you already.” He goes to grab something harder from Vanya’s counter. He sighs. “I must have got the equations wrong.”

“I mean dad used to always say… time travel could mess with your mind. Well, maybe, that’s what’s happening?” It does seem like a possibility, but it still doesn’t explain the armed men.

“This was a mistake. You’re too young…Too naïve to understand,” he says walking out.

“Five- wait,” Vanya calls back. “I haven’t seen you in a long time and I don’t want to lose you again.” Five turns around. My heart yearns for the two of them. I went after Five demanding answers, when I should’ve known Vanya must’ve wanted them too. “That’s all. You know what it’s getting late, and… I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I’m sure both of you do too.” Vanya sets up the couch for Five. “We’ll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise. Night.”

“Night,” Five responds looking back at Vanya as she heads to her room. I feel like… I shouldn’t be here. I turn to Five, asking if he has any injuries to heal, just to be courteous. He tells me he doesn’t. I didn’t think he did.

“Goodnight, Five,” I tell him before heading out the door.

His eyes pierce at me. “Where are you going Eight?”

I clutch the knob harder, to reinforce my decision. “I’m going to sleep in the van. It’s too stuffy in here for me.” He doesn’t say anything, but I know he’s skeptical. I head down to the van, making sure put the keys under the seat in case anyone looks in. I lay down in the back with the loose pillow and throw blanket that was there, thinking about what Five said in Vanya’s. I drift to sleep, thinking about how Five’s story doesn’t sound dissimilar to my nightmares.

The bright light from the car windows pours in, waking me up. It takes me a moment to remember the night before. Dad’s funeral, Five came back, killed some gunmen, apocalypse. Five. Was that a dream? I bolt up, looking out the car window. We aren’t in front of the apartments anymore, but some sort of medical building. I leer at the entrance to see Five walking back to the van. I climb into the passenger’s seat, ready to interrogate him where we are. He gets in, but before I can say anything, he starts the engine.

“It was a waste of time.”

“What was a waste of time?” I ask.

He sighs frustrated. “I couldn’t get the information I needed,” he gestures to himself, “Looking like this.”

“Information for what Five? You’re not telling me everything,” I turn to him challenging for the first time in a long time, “Why did you drive us here?”

Five’s face hardens, as he tries to intimidate me with his eyes. “There’s information in that building can help me stop the apocalypse in seven days.”

Seven days? That doesn’t make any sense.

“Five what do you mean seven days? There’s no world war, or nuclear power war- our government isn’t in complete ruins, how could something like that happen in seven days?” I ask bewildered. I’m starting to think that time traveling really did scramble Five’s brain.

“I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying to figure out!” He looks insane, his eyes looking like they’re popping out of his face. I don’t say anything else when we get back to the house. Five heads back to his room, also giving me the silent treatment. I know the siblings are investigating the rest of the house, looking into Reginald’s supposed ‘murder’, but maybe there’s something else I can find of his on time travel.

He was always too busy for us, writing in his office about who knows what. Maybe he had notes or equations, something about the possibilities of Five’s powers. More specifically the likelihood of him going mad. I head to his office, looking through the books on the shelf. Mostly classical literature, I find some journals that look like they have hand writing in them. I stack them all on the desk, not really surprised at how high they’re stacked. I open up the first one in the pile.

Well it’s time to get crackin.

☂

Five recruited Klaus to play dad so he could get the information he needed from Meritech. Five was getting increasingly irritated with Klaus as he went deep into his cover story and the love affair he had with his fake mom. When they got to the company, the same man he talked to earlier reiterated how he couldn’t tell them anything.

“What about my consent?” Klaus asks to both Five’s and doctor Lance’s confusion.

“Excuse me?”

“Who gave you permission…” Klaus starts with crocodile tears, “to lay your hands… on my son?”

“What?” Five and Lance as in unison.

“You heard me.”

“I didn’t touch your son.”

“Oh, really? Well, how did he get that swollen lip, then?”

“He doesn’t have a swollen—”

Before Lance can finish Klaus right hooks Five in the face. Five clenches his face, while he didn’t expect it, maybe he deserved it a little bit.

“I want it. Name, please. Now.”

“You’re crazy.”

Klaus chuckles, “You have no idea.”

Klaus then smashes the snow globe on the desk into his head, causing it to bleed. Lance attempts to call security, but Klaus threatens to say Lance attacked them instead. Slightly impressed with Klaus, Five can’t help but smile at the doctor. Lance scurries to get them the information on the eye, but it’s a bust, no patient record. The eye hasn’t been manufactured yet.

“Well this isn’t good,” Five tells Klaus.

“I was pretty good. ‘What about my consent—bitch?” He laughs.

“Klaus it doesn’t matter.”

“What? What? What’s the big deal with this eye, anyway?”

Five holds firm. “There’s someone out there who’s going to lose an eye in the next seven days. They’re gonna bring around the end of life on Earth as we know it.”

“Yeah so, can I get my 20 bucks now, or what?”

“Your 20 bucks?”

“Yeah, my 20 bucks.”

Five gets in Klaus’s face. “The apocalypse is coming and all you can think about is getting high?”

“Well, I’m also quite hungry,” Klaus says patting his stomach, “Tummy’s-a-rumblin.” He makes a stomach sound with his mouth.

“You’re useless,” Five says thinking of everyone else, “You’re all useless.”

“Oh, come on. You need to lighten up old man.” Five sighs, taking a seat on the steps. “Hey, you know, I’ve just now realized why you’re so uptight. You must be horny as hell,” Klaus laughs. Five shifts uncomfortably. “All those years by yourself. It’s gotta screw with your head, being alone.”

He thinks about what Klaus really means. Five remembers about how much he missed Eight in the apocalypse. How _he_ needed someone to talk to. Dolores.

“Well… I wasn’t alone,” Five starts.

“Oh? Pray tell.”

“Her name was Dolores. We were together for over 30 years.”

“30 years? Oh, wow!” Klaus chuckles. “God, the longest I’ve been with someone was…I don’t know three weeks? And that’s only because I was so tired of looking for a place to sleep.” Five gets disgusted hearing this and blinks away. How could he think Klaus would actually level with him? He jumped into a cab, obviously freaking out the driver.

“Don’t stop. Keep going.”

Vanya and Eight thought he was crazy, so he was going to visit the only person that would listen to him.

Five arrived at the department store where he knew he’d find her. He jumps inside, scouring around the room. He walks down the aisles, picking up a flash light along the way, as he searches all the mannequins. She was the only on he could depend on at this point. He turns down part of the women’s section, stopping in his tracks. A smile sneaks up on his face as it softens. He sighs somberly.

“Dolores.” She was dressed impeccably, unlike when Five first met her. “It’s good to see you.” She doesn’t say anything but she doesn’t need to. Her presence is enough. “I’ve missed you… obviously. Well, I…” He trips over his words, a lump in his throat holding him back. “It’s been a rough couple of days.” He pours all of his stress into her eyes, before he notices two figures with guns pointed at him.

“NO!”

He ducks out of the way of gunfire, only to see Dolores shot in half. His skin starts burning with anger as he peaks out from the clothes rack.

“Shit. It’s them.”

He decides to run for it, grabbing Dolores, and taking her to a safe spot. “I’ll come back for you.” Five knows she’ll trust him to follow through. He books it in the other direction, before jumping into the other aisle. He finds a serrated knife near the front of the store, testing the weight in his hands before readying his attack. He jumps behind Cha-cha, slashing her neck. He jumps away as soon as Hazel turns the gun on him. He’s able to pull a dufflebag off it’s hook as he runs back to Dolores. ‘I told you,’ he thinks to himself as he lays her into the bag before slinging it onto his shoulders.

He runs through, ready to make an escape as he spatial jumps. It doesn’t work. He’s run out of stamina. He tries again. “Shit! Come on!” he whispers. He climbs over an aisle wall, thinking he’s only going to make it on foot. With Hazel and Cha-chas guns pointed at him, he feels the end, but doesn’t hesitate when they get distracted by police sirens. He hides behind the checkout, sweating bullets, half-relieved to know they think he jumped out of the store. He looks at Dolores, taking a deep breath, before sighing. He holds her closer in frustration.

☂

I’ve been reading through Reginald’s notebooks for hours, and still haven’t found any relevant information. There’s still more books to search through, but at this point, I can barely keep my eyes open. I leave the office, just in time to hear Luther apologize to Allison about Dad.

“Yeah, I was wrong about Diego. You know, to accuse my own brother of that is just—”

“No, I— I know, I get it—"

“Seeing all of you and being back here… I should be the one who’s trying to bring us back together, not tear us apart.” I almost feel a little bad for Luther, I know he still likes Allison like a puppy.

“Would you shut up?” Hmm. I wasn’t expecting that. Neither was Luther apparently.

“What?”

“You were right… about Dad.”

“What?” I ask, unable to hold my tongue. I guess I’ve joined the conversation. Allison and Luther look at me, unsure of how long I was listening.

Allison turns back to Luther, “Come on, I have to show you guys something.” She turns around and beelines down the hall. I follow behind Luther. Five comes up the stairs, looking beat to hell.

“Five? What the hell happened to you?” Allison asks. He turns towards our direction, but looks past us.

“Are you okay? Can we help?” Luther asks, stepping closer to him. I look at Five with pleading eyes. Five grabs Luther’s arm before he can touch him.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he says soft but stern. “There’s nothing any of you can do.” He holds his gaze at Luther before pinning my eyes down.

☂

Five stared into Eight’s dejected eyes, remembering the prosthetic eye he pulled out of Luther’s hand. Finding his body buried under rubble. Along with everyone else. Diego. Allison. Klaus. Only after digging through rubble did he find Eight’s. He promised to never let that happen. He can’t stand to see her body again.

He turned away from his family, heading into his own room.


	5. Extra Ordinary

Allison shows us the clip of Reginald’s death. There doesn’t seem to be foul play but one thing sticks out. Mom… ignored him dying. Luther begs to see the video tape over and over again.

“…It’s the same every time Luther.” He sighs and rewinds the tape.

“Er- wer- what is she doing?” He asks turning back to us. “The tea. Did she poison him?” I shake my head hearing this.

“Uh, I don’t know,” Allison says. Luther sighs again.

“Where did you find this?”

“I was looking through old footage of us as kids, and found the tape just sitting there.”

“Yeah, Dad must have started using the security system again. He was getting more and more paranoid.” I feel my skin crawl. In his increasing irritability, he tried to force more training on me. More bodies were brought to me. More people in pain than I could ever help, but still being scolded as useless… “He thought people were out to get him. Well… I guess maybe he was right.”

“Excuse me,” I nod towards them, signaling my leave. I just- don’t feel comfortable discussing about the end. Especially not with Luther and Allison.

I head towards Five’s room hoping to talk to him. About last night. About dismissing him as crazy. The rational part of my brain says he is, but I don’t want to doubt him. My heart aches not being able to talk to him. I knock on his door.

“It’s me, Eight.” I say quietly. Hearing nothing, I look down at my feet to see shadows coming from the room. He’s still ignoring me it seems.

“Come in.”

I almost trip over myself in excitement grabbing the knob, but relax myself before entering. I get to see Five stitch his arm up before putting a children’s bandage on it. Maybe now isn’t a good time? He pulls on his shirt, getting dressed like he’s heading out.

“I’m sorry-- about yesterday.” He looks at me, but just continues putting on his tie. I take a deep breath. “I just didn’t want to believe you. In case the world, really does end in six days, then I at least want to help you.”

“You either believe me or you don’t.” He says turning away from me, zipping up a duffle bag. I don’t remember him having one.

“I do,” I say unsure if I’m lying. He climbs out the window, and looks back at me to follow him. I squeeze through, following him down the fire escape. I hear rustling of trash outside only to see Klaus dumpster diving talking to himself.

“I’d ask what you’re up to Klaus, but then I realized something. I don’t care.” He says jumping down from the ladder.

“Hey, there are easier ways of getting out of the house buddy,” Klaus says smiling, “I see Eight’s with you too?” I make a short wave at Klaus smiling back as I climb down the ladder.

“This one involved the least amount of talking. Or so I thought,” Five responded head nodding in Klaus and I’s direction.

“You need any more company today?” Klaus asks feverously almost winking at Eight, “I could clear my schedule,” he says taking a swig of his flask.

“Looks like you got your hands full.”

“Oh this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I’m just—” Klaus falls back into the dumpster. “I’ve just misplaced something is all. Found it. Thank god!” He stands back up in the trash, taking a seductive bite of a doughnut, staring at Five almost teasingly. “Delicious.”

“I’m done funding your drug habit.” Wait, what? Five turns around to the van, and I follow quickly, as he doesn’t seem concerned about leaving me behind.

“I love you! Even if you can’t love yourself!”

I get in the passenger’s seat just in time for Five to speed off.

“So, what was that about funding Klaus’s drugs?” I ask.

“Yesterday, I recruited Klaus to help me get information on this prosthetic eye I got in the apocalypse. We got there, but apparently the person who needs it, still has their eye.” He tells me, maintaining his focus on the road.

“And why is whoever owns the eye important?” He scoffs at my question. I’m getting frustrated with his belittling. “Don’t start that with me, you’ve been withholding information. Sorry if you forgot, but I can’t read minds, Five.” I slap the top of his arm.

“Ow!” he wines, looking back at me.

“You should’ve came to me last night about that gash on your arm. Where did you get it anyway?” He doesn’t answer but sighs instead. “Not ready to talk to me about it, huh?”

“I’ll tell you soon,” he says somberly, pulling into the parking lot in front of the Meritech building. His mind looks heavy.

“So, what are we doing, waiting for someone to walk in asking for a new eye?” He completely ignores me, muttering ‘Oh shit’ and turning to the back. I look over my shoulder to see Five open the duffle bag, propping up a half mannequin.

“Sorry for leaving you there for so long.” I just stare at the mannequin, not knowing what to do. “No, I’m not drunk. I’m working. Yes, it’s about the eye thing. This is the place where it was made.” I can’t help but be speechless as Five talks to the mannequin, like it’s responding and I’m not here.

“Five, did you ever ‘boy and his dog’ the apocalypse?” I ask nervously. Maybe I trusted his sanity too soon. I still don’t understand the gunmen at Griddy’s but…

He searches my face. “Why would you think that? Everyone was dead. Even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t do something like that,” he says insulted by the idea.

“I just think I need to go help the family with Reginald’s death,” I say sheepishly staring at the mannequin. He turns to intimidate me.

“Dad’s supposed murder won’t matter if the world ends, Eight.” His eyes cut into my heart. “The best course of action is to wait for whoever the eye belongs to.” He turns back towards the entrance of the building, and I feel more distant to him than ever. I miss my Five. He could still be an ass, sure, but he wouldn’t act like this. He’d be patient enough to lean on, even if he was aloof. I don’t like how he scolds me like Dad. Dad. Shit, it’s Reginald. I need to keep him out my heart.

I left the van, walking back to into the direction of the academy, or at least until I can find a taxi. Five calls my name, asking where I’m going, but I have to help everyone else. Luther already suspects mom of doing something to Reginald, which honestly, I don’t think she’s capable of. I’m get back to the academy, and tell Klaus where Five is, hoping he can mooch him for more money. I storm up to his room, ready to take back my journal I wrote for him all those years ago.

Lift the pillow, but nothings there.

☂

After sitting in the van for hours, Five starts to doze off, seeing ash fall from the sky. He walks out the van, to see the city in shambles, and Eight’s body in the rubble. He screams in the wind.

“Five- Five! Hey Five!”

Five wakes up breathing heavy, as Luther tries to get in the passenger seat. “What are you..ugh” He mutters. Realizing he has Eight’s journal open on his lap, he scrambles to put it away. After much hassle Luther gets in the seat and closes the door.

“You okay?”

“You shouldn’t be.. How did you find me?”

“Um,” Luther points to the behind them. Klaus is in the back dancing with Dolores.

“Hey, baby,” he says to her, “Hey, a little privacy, guys. We’re really hitting it off back here.”

Five gets furious Klaus is disrespecting Delores, and throws a can at him. “GET OUT. You can’t be here! I’m in the middle of something.”

“Any luck finding your one eye man?” Klaus asks putting his arms up on both headrests. Five whispers no.

“What’s he talking about?” Luther asks.

“Does it matter? It’s Klaus.” Klaus bats his eyes at both of them. Five sighs.

“What do you want, Luther?”

“Um… So, Grace may have something to do with Dad’s death. So I need you to come back to the academy, all right. It’s important.”

“‘It’s important’. You have no concept of what’s important,” Five retorts looking tense.

“Hey,” Klaus interjects trying to lighten the mood, “Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?” He laughs. “It was so painful.” Five winces in disgust.

“What are you still doing here?” Luther asks him.

“Ay-ya-ay- what? I need an excuse to hang out with my family?”

“No, we’re trying to have a serious conversation,” Luther gestures towards Five.

“What, and I’m incapable of being serious? Is that what you’re saying?”

“-Luther’s got a point, you should get out.”

“What?”

Klaus leaves the van. “FIINE,” he groans slamming the door.

“What the hell you up to Five?”

“Believe me you wouldn’t understand,” he retorts, thinking of Eight leaving him. It hurt him more than he’ll let her now.

“Try me. And last I checked, I’m still the leader of this family.”

“Well, last I checked, I’m 28 years older than you.”

Luther shifts in his chair uncomfortable, “You know what your problem is.”

“Really hoping you’ll tell me,” Five sneers.

“You think you’re better than us,” he looks over at Five nodding his head, “You always have. Even when we were kids.” Five sighs as his face twitches. Perhaps there’s some truth to what he’s saying. “But the truth is, you’re just as messed up as the rest of us. We’re all you have. And you know it.”

“I don’t _think_ I’m better than you, Number One. I _know_ I am,” he says smirking. “I’ve done unimaginable things, things you couldn’t even comprehend.”

“Right.”

“Just to get back here and save you all.”

They watch as Klaus runs in front of the van, running from a cop, looking like he’s stealing chips.

“Now I’m starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision,” Five says watching Klaus. Eight’s body flashes in his mind, along with the others. Maybe not the wisest decision, but he doesn’t regret it.

☂

Luther called everyone to about dad’s death, but surprise, surprise, Five didn’t show. Luther and Diego start arguing about the tape.

“Look closer,” Diego tells him rewinding the tape, “Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle’s gone.”

“Oh, yeah!” Klaus chuckles.

“She wasn’t poisoning him, she was… taking it. To clean it.” Diego doesn’t look so sure of what he says, and neither am I. I don’t think Mom would ever have bad intentions but, when I think back to the funeral day, I don’t think she’s in the right headspace.

“Then where is it?” asks Luther, “No, I’ve searched the house, including all her things. She doesn’t have it.”

Diego looks down sheepishly. “That’s because I took it from her. After the funeral.”

“You’ve had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego?” Allison questions.

“Give it to me,” Luther demands.

Diego looks at him intently. “I threw it away.”

“You what?”

Allison scoffs. I exchange worried looks with Vanya.

“Look, I knew if you found it on Mom, you’d lose your shit,” Diego says pointing his knife at Luther, “Just like you’re doing right now.”

“Diego, you son of a bit-.”

“Hey. No. Calm down,” Vanya butts in. I’ll admit, it takes a lot of courage to try and split a fight between these two. They stop, and I’m impressed with her. “Look, I know Dad wasn’t exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but… also as a protector.”

Allison makes a face. “What does that mean?”

She was programmed to intervene if someone’s life was in jeopardy.”

“Well, if her hardware is degrading, then…” Luther starts, “We need to turn her off.”

My blood turns cold. There’s no way we can do that to her. How could Luther stand here in front of us and suggest that kind of thing?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She’s not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things, I’ve seen it!” Diego raises his voice at Luther.

Luther not being intimidated by him easily, gets in his face. “She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die.”

“I’m with Luther,” Allison pops in.

“Of course, you are,” I say defensively. She looks shocked I spoke up.

“Shut up.”

My chest pounds as I hear it. I’m losing my patience with being stepped on. My hands ball into fists, but I only imagine getting physical. I know I couldn’t win that fight. The boys look for an answer in Vanya.

“I-I don’t-.”

Diego throws back in dismissal. “Yeah, she shouldn’t get a vote.”

“I was gonna say that I agree with you,” Vanya says hurt.

“Okay. She should get a vote,” he turns to Klaus, “What about you, stoner boy? What do you got?”

“Oh, so what, you need my help now? Oh, ‘Get out of the van, Klaus!’ ‘Well, welcome back to the van’.” Van? Did something happen with Five?

“What van?” Allison asks.

Luther scoffs. “What’s it gonna be Klaus?”

“I’m with Diego, because screw you!” Diego puts up a fist bump in solidarity. “And if Ben were here, he’d agree with me.” I nod. Klaus hisses at an empty space.

“Eight,” Luther demands.

I don’t think turning off mom is a good decision. I can’t get rid of someone who cared for us more than we care for each other. Her warm eyes as she made us breakfast, the sunny disposition in a house where it always rained, I don’t want to lose another person dear to me. But I also can’t ignore that she did ignore Reginald’s death. There’s something wrong there.

“I don’t think we should turn off Mom-,”

“Thank you!” Diego says celebrating with his arms up.

“I’m not done!” His demeaner pulls a complete 180. “I also can’t ignore that she seemed blind by his death.”

“Then your vote’s useless,” he tells me turning away.

_Useless._ _Like me._

“So that’s three?”

“Wait-,” Luther begins.

“To two.” Diego says comparing the number one both hands.

Allison cuts him down. “Vote’s not final yet.”

“What?”

“Five’s not here. The whole family has to vote, we owe each other that.”

“Right,” Luther agrees.

“No, we should wait,” Vanya also agrees. Everyone begins to leave the room. Five’s not going to vote, hell, we’d be lucky if he even comes home at this point. Diego looks at them leaving worried.

“Diego,” I say, touching his shoulder as I follow the rest out, “She’ll be okay.” My words aren’t enough though, as he still seems on edge. If only I could heal emotional wounds. I take my leave.

I stare at the ceiling, laying on my old bed. I feel like everyone hates me. I’ve only been on Allison’s bad side since I’ve returned home, and Diego must feel betrayed I didn’t back him up fully about Mom. Then Five… he let me back in, but I left. Having thought about it so long staring at the peeling wallpaper, maybe he needs my support if he’s crazy.

I turn face down into the mattress and moan. It’s cathartic. I moan louder.

“Sounds like someone’s getting their rocks off in here,” Klaus says leaning up against the doorframe. I jolt up, red in the face by the notion. “Oh, come on Eight, you can’t sit in here depressed in your room alone.” He jumps on the bed next to me. “It’s about little Five isn’t it?”

“What- no-.”

“Don’t lie to me little sis,” He says waving his hand in the air, “I know you too had the hots for each other when we were younger.” I don't know if that's true but I can feel my face getting warm. I mean I did but… that was so long ago? I mean not really considering when I woke up but…

“No, Klaus I’m over him. I’ve been over Five,” I tell him. It’s not exactly lying. He looks just like the Five I loved, his long lashes, the chilly eyes, clenched jawline…Then I remember Klaus is next to me. “He’s been a douche.”

“Oh, I know. That’s why I think we can have some bonding time, over his 20 bucks,” he says pulling a rolled joint out of his coat pocket. I’m not against it, I’ve just had my Klaus phase- without Klaus.

“I thought you would’ve hated me,” I say chuckling, taking out some matches from my nightstand.

“For what?” He asks acting more shocked.

I look down, holding the box loose in my hand. “Ben.”

“No, no,” Klaus says, putting his hand on my arm in comfort, “Nobody could do anything to save Ben.” I’m still not sure. He grabs the match from my hands, lighting the blunt, offering it to me. “Come on, let’s get this party started!”

I’ve never felt so calm getting high with Klaus. Everything just poured out, all the one night stands we had, the bad breakups, the freeloading. Klaus went off about all the partners he had that could give him his fix, sometimes multiple at a time. I opened up about sleeping with guys and girls, just to feel any emotional worth.

“Oh honey, that never works,” he told me.

“Yeah, I figured that one out a while ago,” I told him. I wish I had Klaus when I left the house. I never knew getting high with someone else could be so… satisfying.

Later Klaus and I decided to have a dance party in my room, as we sung along to Garbage Truck for probably an hour on repeat. Garbage truck, truck. We ended up falling over laughing, as I sang “CRUSH IT DOWN” with so much power. He started telling the story of how he cracked this guy’s dick on accident. I snorted.

“Like a knuckle?” I chuckle.

“EXACTLY,” he says laughing. I better try that the next time I take a dick home. Klaus says something about taking a shower, so I head down to the kitchen to get a late snack. I can’t really find anything in the fridge, but the freezer is a different story. Icecream. Fuck yeah. I find the biggest spoon in the kitchen and take the tub with me. I start to head back up the stairs, until I hear gunfire.

Fuck not again. I’m too high for this. It sounds like it’s from the bedrooms, so I run to hide in the living room. Next thing I know, Diego jumps down from the railings hiding behind the couch, in front of me. We look at each other wide eyed as we hear footsteps coming towards us. Bullets hail in the room, and I hold my icecream closer. I didn’t want to die high. I start melting down in front of Diego. He looks at me perplexed.

“OOf.”

The guns stop going off as I hear a thud and Allison kicking one of the armed men. After a few throws, he grabs her by the throat lifting her off the ground. Diego dives away from the couch to tackle him, and Luther also jumps on the man. I try to crawl away, protecting my precious tub of icecream.

Luther chucks the masked gunman into the foyer.

“Who the hell are these guys!?” Allison asks.

Luther and Diego start bantering, and I noticed I just stuck my hand on a shard of glass. Hmm, it doesn’t hurt that bad, maybe that’s not good. I pull it out, and try to heal my hand. How deep was it? Uhh… I press into my hand to gauge it’s depth. Okay. Muscle. Fascia. Hypodermis. Dermis. Epidermis. I get most of it together, I think? Close enough. Still feels the same though.

I crumble back down to the floor, as the gunmen shoot again in the room. I cover my head from falling shards, actually paying attention to where they are in the floor.

“Get out of here go! I said GO,” Diego commands as he ushers Allison and Luther into a different room.

They don’t notice me, so I dart behind the bar. No one would shoot alcohol, right?

“Hello?” Oh god it’s Vanya. “Guys.” I peak my head out as Vanya enters the living room. Then the masked man knocks Vanya on the side of her head.

“Hey, asshole,” I hear Luther challenge him.

The masked man goes out to the foyer to fight Luther, and I crawl out to Vanya laying on the table in pain.

“Come with me Vanya,” I whisper, lifting her head up. Vanya and I turn towards Luther ask he fights the masked man. I pull on her arm, but she doesn’t budge.

“Vanya, get out of here!” he yells at her.

She then follows me to hide. We hear groaning and thuds in the other room. Then silence. Footsteps come back towards us, then head back the other way. Vanya sighs in relief. A large creak comes from the other room.

“Luther!” we hear Allison yell out.

CRASH. It sounded like the chandelier fell. Vanya and I run out to go see. My body sobers up. All I can see is Luther, his gorilla upper body visible to everyone else. More of my failure. Luther and Allison stare at each other, both looking sad. Or is it pained? Longing?

Luther runs upstairs, without saying a word. Allison comes to Vanya and I eyes searching.

“Did you know?” Vanya asks me.

I turn away from them, ashamed. “Yes.”

“Oh, shit. Mom.” Diego says as he runs upstairs.

My sisters stare at me, looking for more. I push past them. I can’t be here. I run to my bedroom, taking the melted icecream with me.


	6. Man on the Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to ignore the year where Luther's accident happens. While writing this I learned about an inconsistency of when Luther has his accident (7 years before), and a scene where he reads Vanya's book still normal in appearance (5 years before). How many years ago is whatever you feel comfortable with. Thanks for reading guys!

Tired, I press myself up against the bed. Shit. I think back at the source of pain, remembering that I gashed my hand, and tried to heal it last night while high. Well, that didn’t fucking work. Looking at it closer, there’s spots where the muscle still isn’t connected, and skin is twisted. It’s already scabbed over too.

I sigh before heading down to the medical room, remembering the last time I did this. I slipped while drunk, breaking open my knees, and like yesterday, thought it was a good idea to heal it then. I scour through the cabinets, until I find a scalpel. I pull a clean towel to bite down on. I stare at my hand for a second, remembering the pain, wondering if it’s worth it. I cut into it, gritting my teeth. Fresh blood pours from my hand, freckling my legs. I throw the scalpel to the ground, dropping the towel on the ground.

“FUCK.”

I press my hand into the re-opened wound, repeating the steps in my head. Muscle. Each myofibril stitching together. I press a little harder, blood bubbling out. I focus on each blood vessel, closing up its pathways. Connective tissue. The thin wispy bits of fascia web itself back together. Skin. The fatty layer connects back together, then the dermis.

I sigh in relief of my work. The area where the cut my left hand was is a little pink, but it’s nothing a couple days won’t fix. I’ll still feel the pain though. Taking the towel, I wipe myself clean of the blood on my hands and leg. God it would be so nice to put blood back in. Then I remember how everyone saw Luther last night.

_A couple years ago_

_It all feels like sleep. Dreaming. I laugh in Griddy’s as Five and I share a doughnuts together. It’s like no one else exists in this world, just him and I. We laugh at a family memory. I playfully graze his hand with mine. He smiles back at me with his gorgeous eyes, a sincere smile on his face, as he dances his fingertips against my leg. My whole chest feels warm. I lean my head in a little closer. He gently holds my jaw, turning his head to the side. I can feel his cool breathing on my cheek, making my heart race. Our lips touch…_

ELECTRIC.

My body seizes up in the fetus position as I’m being tased. I yowl from the pain surging through my muscles, but also from my lungs opening up for the for years. I pull the pricks from my skin as I look up to my attacker.

“Number Eight!” Reginald yells at me, “There’s no more time for your cowardice, there’s been an emergency!”

Emergency? How long have I been asleep? I stumble to get up, all my muscles asleep. I hobble through the hall following Dad, trying to think of what happened. He directs me to the medical room, where Grace and Pogo are waiting in assistance. There’s a man laying on the table, shirt torn open with lesions on his body.

My eyes widen as I realize it’s Number One. He’s older. How long have I-?

“Paddles! Quickly!” Reginald calls to Grace. She shocks him on the chest to no avail.

I put my hands on One’s chest, trying to heal the open wounds, but there’s too much skin lost to just stitch together. I analyze his muscle tissue, but it’s too damaged, the cells are dying. I can’t stop what’s happening- I’m useless here. My heart starts racing. Number One groans in pain.

“Again,” Dad tells Grace.

His heart’s still not starting. Scared, I look towards Dad, and shake my head in disappointment. In shame.

“Damn it,” he says, looking sadly at Number One, “Bring me the serum.” Serum? Does Dad have something I don’t know about? “Pogo.” Pogo hands him a large needle, bigger than I’ve ever seen. Dad takes it from him, his knuckles turning white from his grip. He plunges it straight to Number One’s heart. I can’t help but stare as I stop breathing. I can feel Number One’s cells changing. I pull my hands away shaking.

If I had been awake, it’s possible this wouldn’t have happened. Training- I could’ve learned how to stop this in how ever many years that have gone by. I run back to my room, and Dad doesn’t even turn around to look at me.

☂

Five watches as Lance unlocks his car. Five jumps into the passenger seat as soon as he gets into the car.

“Oh, Jesus!”

Five presses his knife against his neck, getting close to his face.

“One chance. That’s all you’ve got,” He threatens, “One chance to tell me exactly what’s going on in that lab.”

“I… I manufacture prosthetic devices for take patients. I bill the insurance companies and then sell them for cash on the black market.” Not exactly what he meant but it works.

“Including eyeballs?”

“Yeah, they’re my biggest seller. I mean, they sell like hotcakes. I—I’ve got a list, a waiting list, probably 20 buyers,” he mutters nervously. Perfect, Five thinks.

“So, the serial number I told you…”

“Uh, could’ve already been bought. Yes, off—off the books.” Five breathes out heavily in anger.

“I needed that list, Lance. Names and numbers, and I need it now!” he says pressing the cold blade closer to his throat.

“I don’t have it. I mean, not on me. The only copy’s in my safe at the lab.”

Five lets out a faint chuckle. “Well, you start the car, then. ‘Cause we’re going on a field trip.” He pulls the knife back a little.

“okay,” Lance whispers.

“Now,” Five says firmly.

“okay.”

☂

I head back upstairs to grab some fresh clothes, instead of wearing my blood covered pants. I open the closet, feeling like an idiot. Of course, it’s just old uniforms. I take the skirt anyway and put it on, it looks fine enough for now.

Those gunmen last night… the Umbrella Academy has been inactive for years. Then I remember what Five said the night at Griddy’s: ‘I thought they’d have more time before they found me.’ So, the couple who attacked the house must be connected somehow to the gunman at the doughnut shop. It’s time for answers. If Five didn’t want to tell me before, sure. But something could’ve happened to the others- to Vanya.

I head over to Five’s room hoping he came back home in the middle of the night. The doors already open, with Luther, Pogo, and Diego inside. They must’ve been arguing, because Pogo shut them down.

“Enough! This house was attacked. We barely got out with our lives. And Grace…she wasn’t so lucky. Your brother is missing, and this is how you rise to the occasion? Take your nonsense elsewhere.” My brothers look away sheepishly. I didn’t know they got Grace. I’m heartbroken but am pulled back by Pogo’s firm, “Now.”

“Sorry, Pogo.”

“Yeah, sorry, Pogo.”

They exit the room, meeting me in the hallway.

“What were you guys doing in Five’s room,” I ask, feeling like I already know.

“It sounded like they were after Five last night,” Luther tells me.

“I figured the same.” They turn from me, starting to walk down the hall. I run up behind them. “If you guys are going after Five, I’m coming too. I have some things to ask him about last night.”

Diego picks up the seriousness in my voice and nods his head. “Let’s go Eight.”

We head back to the front of Meritech labs, to see Five’s van still parked in the lot.

Luther pulls ahead. “This is it. He’s still here. This is Five’s van.”

“Go. Go,” Diego ushers as Luther grabs the passenger knob. He fiddles with it, before he realizes it’s locked. Diego just stares at him for a moment, before he steps in front to pick the lock.

“So much for being super strong, Luther,” I say quietly, but enough he looks back it me in surprise.

Both dopes try to enter the doorframe at the same time, then push ahead to try again. Idiots.

“I’m one,” Luther says before trying to climb into the passenger seat.

Diego opens the back door, gesturing for me to climb in. We look through the van, for any sign of where Five went. Diego searches through his duffle bag, Luther checks the glove compartment. Then I see something familiar under the driver’s seat. Fuck, that means he read it. I quickly grab it, and pretend to browse through it, to not alert them of what it is. I feel my heart race, but try to remain calm. We rummage through more stuff until Diego whistles to us. He holds up a copy of Vanya’s book, “Extra Ordinary”.

“I know where to find Five.” I tuck my journal under my arm as look at the library stamp on the book.

We head to the library, and I can’t help but wonder why he’d come here. Wasn’t his plan to stake out the building until he knew who the eye belonged to? Once we’re inside, Luther suggests we split up.

“Wow. Good thinking,” Diego remarks sarcastically.

It doesn’t matter as we split up in different directions of the library. I comb through aisles, as my heart beats faster. Why am I getting nervous? I brush past unfamiliar faces, and a couple heads turn at me as I brisk though the library. Not this floor. I head upstairs, meeting up with Diego and Luther. Again, we search the whole floor and can’t find him.

“Anything?”

“No.”

Luther sighs. We’re on the top floor and we still haven’t found him. Maybe this was a bust. Luther starts to look down the other hall when Diego speaks up. “You wanna know why I left?”

Luther comes back. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Why I left the Academy,” Diego says turned from him. This must do with what they were arguing about earlier.

“Yeah, ‘cause you couldn’t handle me being Number One.” God Luther, way to be self-righteous. I scoff.

“No. Because that’s what you do when you’re 17. You move out, become your own person, grow up.”

“Oh yeah. You’re a real grown up,” Luther remarks. I feel out of place. I feel the tension running through my body.

“At least I make my own decisions. You’ve never had to hold down a job. Pay bills,” he turns to Luther changing tone, “You ever even been with a girl?” Oh god Diego.

“I…” Luther starts clearing his throat. Diego smiles, thinking it’s funny. I can’t help but feel a little sympathy, I would laugh too if Luther didn’t have an ape body, and was still clearly smitten for Allison.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-.”

Diego snorts. “Look, you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving… that’s okay. But maybe you’re asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it’s not about why we left. Maybe it’s about why you stayed.”

Luther never left the academy. I left last, but of course that’s because I was asleep for years. Luther has endured all of his life with Reginald, but never had the thought of leaving. Loyal like a dog.

“I stayed because the world needed me,” he says getting closer to Diego.

“You stayed because you couldn’t let go of the way things used to be. The academy. Dad.” He pauses. “With Allison.” Luther just stares at Diego, before turning away. “Dad’s dead. Mom too, now. We’re orphans again, dude.” I let out a pained chuckle. “And things are never gonna go back to the way things used to- be…” Diego turns around, becoming speechless.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Luther asks. Diego is still looking past him, so I turn to see what he’s staring at. My heart skips. Five. I follow Diego as he heads in his direction.

“Wow, that was easy,” I hear Luther say to himself.

We come around the hallway to see Five passed out in the corner, holding his mannequin. There’re books littered all along the floor, and equations written up the wall. There’s also a couple empty bottles of liquor around him. I gasp.

“Is he, um...?” Luther asks.

Diego starts to smile in amusement, nodding his head. “Drunk as a skunk.”

I hear Five mumble in his sleep. I can’t tell if it’s cute or super inappropriate.

“Alright, let’s get him out of here,” I tell them as I pick up Five’s books from the ground, trying to clean up his mess. Diego tosses his liquor in the trash, as Luther picks up Five. We exit the library as it gets dark outside.

“Well, we can’t go back to the house. It’s not secure. Those psychopaths, could come back at any moment,” Luther tells us.

“My place is closer,” Diego suggests. I guess it’s time to see Diego’s batcave. “No one will look for him there.”

I look over Five, as he starts to regain consciousness. He belches. Ugh. He groans, looking at Luther.

“If you vomit on me…” Luther warns him.

Five rubs his hand on the back of Luther’s neck before flipping his head back. “You know what’s funny? Aah! I’m going through puberty.” He scoffs, rolling his head. “Huh. Twice.”

I shake my head hearing that. So wrong.

“And I-,” he chuckles, “I drank that whole bottle, didn’t I?” I nod at him annoyed. “That’s what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye.” He waves his arm in the air. “Poof, it’s gone. What are you guys talkin’ about?”

Luther sighs. “Two masked intruders attacked the academy last night.”

“They came looking for you!” Diego sneers.

“Just like the men at Griddy’s,” I tell Five, a little resentment growing in me. Luther and Diego stop and turn to me shocked. “What, it’s not like you guys ever talk to me.” We keep walking.

Diego returns his energy towards Five. “I need you to focus! What do they want?”

“Hazel and Cha-Cha,” Five mumbles.

Diego turns back to him. “Who?”

“You know I hate code names,” Luther tells Five.

“Ah, the best of the best,” Five starts, his voice cracking. “Except for me, of course.”

“Best of what?” Diego asks.

“You know, Dolores always says she hated when I drink. She said it made me surly-,” Five says a huge smile on his face. I’ve heard Five mention a Dolores a couple time now…

“Hey!” Diego snaps, turning to Five.

Five chuckles. “Hm. Yeah.”

“I need you to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?” Five’s smile grows bigger on his face, as he bats his eyes at Diego. “We just want to protect you.”

“Protect me. I don’t need your protection, Deeya-ma,” he fumbles up his name, “Do you have any idea how many people I’ve killed? No. I’m the Four frickin’ horsemen. The apocalypse is coming.” Five quickly turns over, vomiting over Luther. Luther holds a neutral face while Diego and I exchanged concerned glances.

We arrive at Diego’s secret sanctum, which turns out to be the basement of a boxing studio. Luther places Five down on the bed, while Diego puts his mannequin on a chair. He stares at it for a second afterward. Thank god I’m not the only one weirded out by it. We look back at Five, sound asleep as he twitches slightly. It’s cute. I feel myself smile a bit. Then I remember what he’s like awake.

“Funny. If I didn’t know he was such a prick, I’d say he looks almost adorable in his sleep,” Diego says bluntly.

“Well, don’t worry. He’ll sober up eventually,” Luther reassures him, “Be back to his normal unpleasant self.”

Diego starts to beeline out. “Yeah, I can’t wait that long. I need to find out what his connection is to these lunatics before someone else dies.”

I glance back at Five, wondering what he got himself into.

“All that stuff he was saying before… What do you think he meant by that?” Luther asks. Before I can tell Luther about Five’s fervent belief the world ends this week, we all quiet down as footsteps approach. Diego pulls a knife out, heading to the top of the stairs, signaling us to watch Five. He yanks the door open to throw his knife-

“If you throw another one of those goddamn knives at me,” the voice says, as Diego looks down embarrassed, “I’m pressin’ charges.”

“What do you want Al?” Diego asks, as he lets him in.

“I ain’t your secretary.”

“Yeah.”

“Some lady called for you, says she needs your help.”

“What lady?” Diego asks disinterested.

“I dunno. Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin’.”

Diego stops in his tracks. “Patch?” Al just nods his head as a ‘whatever’. “She needs my help,” he says sounding elated.

“She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun.”

Diego quickly takes the paper from Al. “When?”

“About half an hour ago. Uh, she said she found your brother.”

Diego turns to look at Five. “Well, that didn’t make sense.”

I look back at Five, before turning towards them. “Klaus.” Diego runs out before Luther can offer to watch Five. Luther glances at me before patting the mannequin on the head.

A couple hours pass by and Luther’s fallen asleep on the chair next to the mannequin. I’ve been looking at Diego’s collection of what seems to be handmade knives. Some are still just sheets of metal, waiting to be sharpened. I grab on of the sharpened ones, playfully testing the weight in my hand. I see Diego has a board to target practice, and decide to try my hand.

CLinK. It missed entirely, bouncing off the concrete wall. I scramble to get it, hoping not to wake up the boys. I sigh in relief as Luther still snores. I glance over to see Five roll over, mumbling something in his sleep. I feel my heart pull a little. Did he always mumble in his sleep? I place the knife back where it was, to get a closer look at Five. Diego was right, he’s adorable when he’s asleep. I really don’t want to, but I feel nostalgic for when I was head over heels for him. I would’ve died to see him like this.

Then I notice the dried blood on his face. I go to touch the spot it looks like it might be coming from, hidden underneath his hair. I’m careful to touch it gently, sure enough not to wake him. He sleepily chuckles and says something about Dolores tickling him. I ignore the insinuation but smile, as I help to heal the cut. It wasn’t as deep as my hand, so it healed quickly. I brush my hand along, checking to see if there’s more open spots.

Five wakes up catching me brush through his hair.

I panic, pulling my hand back. My face heats up, as Five smiles at me.

“Hey Eight,” he says groggy, as his smile grow. Oh, thank god he’s still drunk. He turns his whole body towards me, tucking his hands under his face, batting his long lashes at me. My face heats up again. Does he realize how he’s acting? Cheeky drunk bastard.

“Ya know, I used to have a crush on you when we were kids,” he says going to boop my nose. I back up, wide-eyed. “But now I’m an old fart. Phf,” he says turning away.

I-I can’t say anything. Did he just confess he liked me? My heart yearns familiarly. I turn away feeling choked up. My head races. If he didn’t leave, would we…? I imagine all the sly glances we would’ve exchanged with each other, the stolen kisses, the sneaking out we would do at night…

I slap myself in the face. I can’t let his confession reignite my crush on him. ‘When we were kids’ does not mean now. Even if that wasn’t long ago for me. I turn back to him, and he’s still smiling. Shit. Hmm. Maybe I can get some answers from him though.

“Five,” I tell him as I run my hand over the cut I healed. He leans his head into my touch. Fuck. I can’t deal with this, but I try anyway. “H-How did you get this cu-ut?” I ask, trying to smile without looking uncomfortable.

“Meritech exploded. Boom. Gone.” I hope to god he didn’t do that.

“D-do you have anymore cuts?” 

Five looks at me a looking cheeky, before pulling up his sweater vest. There’s a gash on his ribs. I put my hand on it, realizing there’s tiny pieces of glass inside. I get up looking through Diego’s stuff for tweezers. I find them amongst other medical supplies, deciding to take the rubbing alcohol and towel with me. Five holds his gaze on me as I pull out the fragments on the surface. Using my powers, I locate the ones I can’t see.

“Okay, this is gonna sting,” I say as I uncap the rubbing alcohol. I pour it on the open wound, and Five winces in pain.

“Shit Eight!” he scolds me, jumping up. I’m pretty sure that shocked him sober. He has that bewildered look on his face again.

I run my fingers along the area, using my other hand to push him back down on the bed. “You know I can’t stop infections.” It’s easier to work when he’s not giving me puppy eyes. Five looks around the room, noticing Luther asleep in the corner.

“Big boys out, huh?” he asks while I finish up.

“Yeah, he’s been out for a while.” I hand him the rubbing alcohol. “For the blood,” I tell him, gesturing to my forehead. Five looks at me confused, touching the spot, realizing I healed it. I hand him a towel to dot the blood off. He does, turned away from me. My eyes wonder around the room, thinking about what to say.

He breaks the silence first. “I read your journal.” Chills run down my skin, as I straighten up. I take a deep breath out. I was hoping he’d never bring it up. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

I pause. This is probably the most kindness I’ve seen from him yet- Other than him being drunk.

“We have questions, Five,” I say, trying to forget what he said a couple minutes ago. “We need to know more about who’s after you.”

He looks at me expressionless. “Remember how you asked me if I ever ‘boy and his dog’ the apocalypse?”

I nodded my head, remembering my poor insinuation.

“Well, I might have made a deal with a dog.”


	7. Number Five

Five wandered the apocalypse for years. Hunting for scraps. Making due with expired food. He wandered, looking for anyone- anything still left alive.

At least he had Dolores with him. The only one he could talk to, the only spirit to keep him sane. Five used to be that crutch for Eight, but Dolores, she was his. She always knew what was best for Five, as she tried to keep him on track. To maintain the love in his heart.

Five adored her. Her gentle smile, and the unflinching critical gaze of him. He spoiled her. Every time they’d find a new clothing store, he’d find something nice for her. Other than his survival, she was his priority.

There was no hope at getting home. No matter how hard he tried, Five couldn’t jump back through time. Dolores believed he could. Five thought she was being ridiculous, and she scolded him for thinking she was. So, he never gave up trying.

As Five returned to the New York library ruins, he set up Dolores to take a break. He chuckled.

“Do you remember that uh, little mansion just outside the city limits? Where we—”

Dolores naughtily smiles.

Five chuckles again. “Yeah. Yeah, well, it turns out the wine cellar was untouched. Picked up a few cases of your favorite Bordeaux,” he says chugging his glass. He sighs. “Hm.”

Dolores jokingly calls him a drunkard.

“Ah, that’s an exaggeration. I don’t drink too much. You know I work hard all day.”

Dolores scoffs at him. She accuses him of cranking it to his dead crush while he’s ‘off at work’.

Five is incredulous by the notion, but mostly hurt. “Why would you even say that?” He hears crumbling, and reaches for the gun next to him. He points the gun at the source, seeing a lady dressed in black wave towards him. Five blinks, unsure if it’s a mirage, before setting up his gun again to shoot.

☂

I wake up to Five telling Luther about his time in the apocalypse.

“When’s it supposed to happen?” Luther asks, “This… apocalypse.”

“I can’t give you an exact hour, but… from what I could gather, we have four days left.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Five looks at Luther somberly. “It wouldn’t have mattered.”

“Of course it would. We could’ve banded together and helped you try to stop this thing.”

“For the record you already tried,” he says glances up to Luther.

Something in my heart drops. Luther jumps back in his seat confused.

“What do you mean?”

Five looks down, the corner of his lips twitching. Nervous. I’ve only seen him like this once. He pauses before speaking.

“I’ve found all of you,” he says resigned. “Your bodies.” My eyes grow wide. I can’t help but feel the prickling of tears on my eyes, as my throat tightens.

Luther looks choked up from his words. “We die?”

Five gives us looks at us regrettably. “ _Horribly_.”

I swallow my throat, covering my mouth with my hand. Five. He’s seen it, my worst nightmares. Except they’re real. He’s lived through it. Tears start to run down my face as I try to hold back any sounds. Try to hold it together. This is why he didn’t want to tell me anything. He didn’t want me to know.

I see Five gulp as he looks sadly back at me.

“You were all together, trying to stop whoever it was who ends the world.”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Luther asks.

Five pulls some balled up out of his blazer pocket. “This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you.” He throws the prosthetic eye to Luther. It’s starting to come together. He was so hesitant to explain the eye. “Must’ve ripped it right out of their head right before you went down.”

“Who’s head?”

“Like I said, I don’t know.”

Luther turns the eye in his hand. “Well, there’s a serial number on the back. Think maybe you can try-.”

“No, that’s a dead end,” he chuckles, “It’s just another hunk of glass.”

Luther gives back the eye to Five. The door to the sanctum slams in as Diego comes through it, beelining towards Five.

“Piece of shit,” Diego says furiously. Five straightens up. “Do you have any idea of what you just did?” Luther grabs Diego back as he thrashes around. “Nope, let me—Get your ape hands off of me!”

I look towards Five, but he’s just gazing at Diego mildly confused.

Luther lifts Diego off his feet. “I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down.”

Diego stops thrashing, letting out a couple of pants. “Fine.”

Luther lets him back on the ground. “Now, wanna tell us what you’re talkin’ about?”

“Our brother’s been pretty busy since he got back,” Diego spits out. Five watches unflinching.

“There was the shootout at Griddy’s and then at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the Academy, looking for him,” he flares pointing at Five.

“None of which is any of your concern,” he says calmly.

“It is now,” Diego pants, “They just killed my friend.” Five’s jaw tightens.

“Five, who are they?” I ask him, expecting an answer this time. Five looks down from my gaze, before speaking to all of us.

“They work for my former employer. A woman called The Handler. She sent them… to stop me.” We all look at Five mouth agape. “Then, as soon as Diego’s friend got in their way, well, fair game.”

“And now they’re my fair game,” Diego states. “And I’m going to see to it they pay.” He turns around to leave.

“That would be a mistake, Diego. They’ve killed people far more dangerous than you,” he warns.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Diego retorts already out the door. It slams shut.

“Wait, Five, I thought you said nobody was alive in the apocalypse? Who would be an employer?” I give him a stern look. “I need answers this time.”

“Well, it’s a long story.”

Luther sits down, attentively.

“We got time,” I tell him.

Five goes into detail about the later years of the apocalypse. Seeing the handler waving at him after not seeing anyone for a couple decades. She made him a job offer, one he could not refuse given the circumstances. The Commission: an organization responsible for maintaining the time continuum. Or as they say. Their main way at achieving that is through manipulation and assassination. They offered to take him anywhere, anytime, after five years of service.

“They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum. Or ‘corrections’ as they called them. I wasn’t the only one. There are others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don’t know how they got there. But I do know that none of them were as good as me,” Five tells us, no bravo in his voice. “They didn’t realize it, but I was biding my time, trying to figure out the right equation so I could get back. If I could just get back, I knew I could stop the apocalypse. Save the world.” He pauses. “So I broke my contract.”

Luther and I look at Five taking in the weight of his words. Luther gets him something to eat.

“So… You were a hitman?”

“Yes,” Five answers taking the mug from him.

“Uh… I mean, you had a code, right? You didn’t kill just anybody,” Luther says nervously.

“No code. We took out anyone who messed with the timeline.”

“What about innocent people?” I turn my head to Luther; Did you not just hear ‘no code’ and ‘anyone’?

“It was the only way I could get back here.”

“But that’s murder,” Luther says wide-eyed.

“Jesus, Luther, grow up,” Five gets that look in his eyes again. “We’re not kids anymore. There’s no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There’s just people, goin’ about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family.” Luther still looks puzzled. Five sighs. “Time changes everything.”

Five decides it’s probably best we all return to the academy, as Hazel and Cha-cha have already been fought off before. With him in the mix, next time they wouldn’t have a chance. I mean, that’s what he told us.

When we got back to the academy, we split off into different directions, but I made sure to intercept Five in his room.

“Eight,” he questions, as I shut the door behind me.

I almost run up to him, wrapping him in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry Five.” I close my eyes and picture what he must’ve saw. I know the exact look of our bodies, the smell of fresh blood. I can taste the iron in my own mouth, as my heart would race. My muscles going limp. The feeling of being utterly useless. Helpless.

It takes him a while to reciprocate my hug. Even then it feels hesitant. I pull back to look at his face. “I’ve lied about my nightmares. The worst were never about strangers,” I start to choke up again. “It-t was us-s.”

His eyes grow wide, gripping my shirt tighter. His beautiful blue eyes dart back and forth, looking for me to tell him otherwise. I pull him in again, this time he hugs me with the same force. My throat bubbles up again, as tears run down my face. I shouldn’t even be the one crying, but I let it all out. Ugly, gross, snot bubble crying. He keeps his hold of me.

When I start to calm down, I wipe my face on my sleeve, looking back down at Five’s face.

“You know, I thought you’d be taller than me at this point,” I say chuckling.

His face turns halfway into a smile and like he’s offended, the corner of his mouth twitching. But he looks the Five I remember.

“And I thought you’d start wearing something that matches,” he says gesturing to my academy skirt. I smile.

“Five, I’m gonna help you stop this. Any way I can.”

☂

Five finally let Eight close the wound he got from Hazel and Cha-cha. Shortly after that did she realize she didn’t sleep enough, and Five offered to let her rest in his room. Not while he was there, of course, he was going to wander around the academy. Think of the next step. He doesn’t have time to watch Eight talk in her sleep, even if he wanted to.

Walking down the halls, he spots a blood trail leading to Klaus’s room. He decides to involve himself. He knocks on the door, asking if Klaus is okay. Klaus was acting strange, well, stranger than usual. Five could pick up on the signs; He must’ve time traveled. Five smiles.

“You did it didn’t you?”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus,” he says getting closer.

Klaus plops himself down on the bed. “Symptoms of what?”

“The jet lag. The full body itch.” Klaus sighs into his hands, still shaky. “The headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain.” Five raises his eyebrows. “You gonna tell me about it?”

“Your pals, when they broke into the house and they couldn’t find you, they took me hostage instead.”

“And in return, you stole their briefcase,” Five smiles almost laughing.

“Yeah. I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever,” he sighs. “And then I opened it.”

Five starts to get excited by this prospect. He has something on them. “And the next thing you knew you were… where? Or should I say when?”

“What difference does it make?”

“What diff—e- Okay, how long where you gone?” Five asks.

“Almost a year.”

Shock runs down his skin. “A year?” he almost whispers. “Do you know what this means?”

“Yeah, I’m ten months older now.”

“No, this isn’t any sort of joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase.” Five looks around the room, “Where is it now?”

“Gone. I destroyed it. Poof.”

Anger boils in his chest. His opportunity just swept beneath his feet. “What the hell where you thinking?”

“What do you care?” Klaus asks snidely.

“What do I care? I needed it, you moron, so I could get back,” Five thought about going back to when he initially time traveled. “I could start over.”

If Five could go back, he could finally have that normal life. Grow up with his siblings, prepare for the apocalypse, forget the commission. Stay for Eight. Nobody would have to die.

“Just…Just…” Klaus gestures at Five to stop, leaving the room.

“Where are you going?”

“Interrogation’s over, just… Leave.”

Okay. Five finds a notepad on Klaus’s desk and starts to write feverishly. Even if he couldn’t use the briefcase, he could use it to his advantage. As leverage. Time traveling back would make this so much easier.

He sighs.

☂

I wake up from my nap, seeing a pair of legs next to me. Five’s standing on the bed, chalk in hand writing on the walls. Numbers, names, equations, litter everywhere. The ceiling, the walls… he did all of this while I was sleeping?

“Oh. Okay, I think I got something Dolores,” he says while pulling his hand away. “It’s tenuous, but promising.”

I turn my head to the footsteps approaching, seeing Luther. I quickly jump out of bed, Five finally noticing I’m awake and Luther’s presence in the process.

“What is all this?” Luther asks.

Five looks at the wall next to him. “It’s a probability map.”

“Probability of what?” he asks. I scan the wall in front of me, trying to make out anything.

“Of whose death can save the world,” he says too nonchalantly. “I’ve narrowed it down to four.”

“Are you saying one of these four people, causes the apocalypse?” Luther asks.

“No, I’m saying that their death might prevent it.”

“Oh,” Luther mutters. Five continues writing. “I’m not following.”

Five pulls the chalk away in frustration. “Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect.” Luther nods, still looking unsure. “So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the time line, wherever they may be, and kill them. Oh yeah…”

Five jumps down to grab something from his nightstand. Vanya’s book. He then starts writing on the pages. Luther walks around to get a better look at the list of names. Milton Green. Aleks Cameron. KC Chavez. Robert Polko. I wonder who they are.

“Milton Green,” Luther asks, “So who’s he, a terrorist or something?

Five squints at the name. “I believe he is a gardener.”

Luther and I both turn to Five. “Ah-a gardener?” I ask him wide-eyed.

“You can’t be serious.” Five reaches for something underneath his bed completely ignoring Luther. “Wait, this is madness, Five. You— Wh-Where’d you get that?”

“In Dad’s room,” he says unzipping the bag. “I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros.” He pulls out a large rifle, shifting the parts ready, testing how it fits in his arms. “It’s similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable.”

My heart starts racing. “Five you can’t- you can’t-.”

“This guy Milton is just an innocent man,” Luther says pointing at the wall.

Five gets that look in his eyes, but this time it scares me. “It’s basic math. His death could potentially save the lives of billions. If I did nothing, he’d be dead in four days anyway. The apocalypse won’t spare anyone.”

“We don’t do this kind of thing,” Luther tells him. I nod to Luther in solidarity.

“ _We_ are not doing anything,” Five sneers, “ _I_ am.”

“We can’t let you go kill innocent people, Five.”

“No matter how many you’ll save,” I tell him.

“Well, good luck stopping me,” Five says as he walks out the room. I try to run after him, but Luther speaks up.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Luther grabs the mannequin by the neck, holding her out the window. Five looks at him wide-eyed, immediately pointing the gun at him.

“What the fuck,” I say, incredulous.

I’ve never seen Five’s eyes with so much vicious intent. “Put…her…down.”

“Put the gun down. You’re not killing anyone.” Luther says calmly. HOW THE FUCK IS HE SO CALM RIGHT NOW. I feel like I’m gonna be sick. “I know she’s important to you, so don’t make me do this.”

Five scoffs.

“It’s either her or the gun.” I can see Five’s hands tremble. The twitch of his eye. Luther’s going to make him crack. I hope. “You decide.”

Luther tosses the mannequin out, and Five immediately jumps for her. Even with the slight dizziness, I finally feel like I can breathe again.

“Oh, thank god,” I say, taking deep breaths. How the hell did these guys ever deal with hostage situations, I don’t know.

Five catches his mannequin, and Luther picks up Reginald’s rifle. “I can keep doing this all day,” Luther says teasingly.

Five gives Luther an angry look, before sighing and holding the mannequin closer. Part of me still thinks it’s weird, but there’s a gentleness in the way he holds it. I long for it. I bite my lip.

“I know you’re still a good person, Five. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have risked everything coming back here to save us all. But you’re not on your own anymore.”

Five sighs, looking towards the window. I walk closer, sitting on the other side of the bed. I want to comfort him, but I can’t in front of Luther.

“There is one way,” he says, unsure. “But it’s just about impossible.”

“More impossible than what brought you back here?” I gently ask. Five looks at me and sighs.

Five was leading us down an empty country road. He gets Luther to park, and takes off his seatbelt. I look around, seeing nothing for miles, except that pitstop we just passed by. Luther sits uncomfortable straight.

Five sighs. “You know, I never enjoyed it.”

“What?” Luther asks.

“The killing.” My face softens. “I mean, I was…I was good at my work, and I…I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure.” He sighs again. “I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind.”

I sigh. I’m starting to understand what this Five- _my_ Five, has been through. Not just the hell of finding your family dead, but being alone for so long. All those times I’ve tried to fill the void with random people, only for it to remain hollow afterwards. He didn’t even have others to help lie to himself.

“Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time,” Luther says empathetically. “I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It’s the being alone that breaks you. You think they’ll buy it?” Luther asks, grabbing the ordinary briefcase.

Five filled us in on the Commission’s use of briefcases to time travel, and how Klaus stole Hazel’s and Cha-cha’s. The plan relied on them thinking it’s the real deal, to use as a bargaining tool. Or buy us time.

“Well, what I do know is that they’re desperate. It’s like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they’ll be in deep shit,” Five explains, “Oh, not to mention the fact that they’ll be stuck here until they get it back.”

“Well, I should hold onto it,” Luther says.

“Hm?”

“In case they make a move on you.”

“Okay, Luther, but be careful. I mean, I’ve… I’ve lived a long life, but…you’re still a young man,” Five says. Luther stares at him puzzled. “You got your whole life ahead of you. Don’t waste it.”

Five sits forward in his seat in anticipation. I can’t shake the weird feeling I get when Five nonchalantly talks about being old. It’s funny? Odd? Not that his age really matters besides his experiences…

A car approaches over the horizon.

“Here we go.”

We get out of the car, standing in the open road. The car drives a little bit past us.

Five turns to us. “If this all goes sideways, do me a favor and tell Delores I’m sorry.” His eyes linger on me after saying that.

I look towards Luther, wondering if he knows who that is. He looks just as lost as me. Five turns to the masked assassins, and meets them in the middle. I gulp.

“The masks really necessary?” he asks them.

They pull them off tossing them aside.

“So where is it, kid?” the woman who I assume is Cha-cha asks.

“Wow, that’s how you’re gonna start. You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day,” Five says turning back to us.

Cha-cha pulls out a gun. “You won’t even make it halfway there.”

I look towards Luther for guidance, but he’s steadfast in the situation.

“Maybe,” Five says unflinching. “But as I’m sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant.”

“He’s right,” Hazel says. “You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up.”

“By the time you took him out, he’d smash your precious briefcase to a pulp.”

“Probably us too, right?” Hazel asks, waving around his gun. “So, how do we help each other?”

“I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her. Face-to-Face.”

“About what?” Cha-cha asks.

“Well, I don’t believe that’s any of your concern.”

Cha-cha shakes her head from the absurdity. “Just don’t tell her about the briefcase.”

Five nods his head. “Fair enough.”

Five walks back to us, as Cha-cha goes to a payphone. I can’t help but feel impressed by his cool headedness while having a gun in his face.

“What happens now,” Luther asks him.

“Now we wait.”

Cha-cha finishes her call, going back to stand next to Hazel. The sound of a jingle comes closer. The Commission? We turn to the direction of an icecream truck coming in our direction. I look at Five as if to ask if this is normal, but his mouth twitches in confusion.

“Is that her?” Luther asks.

As it passes us, we see Klaus is sitting in the driver’s seat waving at us, a huge smile planted on his face. I wave a little back, confused.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Five asks.

“This is a setup!” Cha-cha yells, as she and Hazel shoot at the truck. They hit them.

☂

Time froze.

Five looked at Luther, then at Eight cowering next to him. He walked around Luther, looking at Hazel and Cha-cha frozen in time. He glanced back at Luther before walking forward.

“Neat trick isn’t it?” The Handler asks. Five turns around, seeing her. Her presence ignited a cool fury in him. “Hello Five. You look good, all things considered.”

“It’s good to see you again,” he lies cordially.

“Feels like we met just yesterday. Course, you were a little bit older then,” she jokes. “Congratulations, on the age regression, by the way. Very clever.” Five turns his head at the obvious dig. “Threw us all off the scent.”

“Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and… Well you know, here I am,” he says putting on a cheeky smile.

“You realize your efforts are futile. So why don’t you tell me what you really want?”

His eyebrows twitch. “Well I want you to put a stop to it.”

“You realize what you’re asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What’s meant to be is meant to be.” Five’s patience shortens as he pulls the gun from the inside of his blazer. “That’s our ration d’etre.”

“Yeah? Well how about survival as a raison?” He asks pointing the gun at her head.

“I’ll just be replaced. I’m but a… small cog in a machine,” she says walking closer to him, “This fantasy you’ve been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse…is just that. A fantasy.”

Five’s fingers tighten on the gun hearing that.

“You know, we’ve all quite impressed with your initiative, your… stick-to-itiveness, really quite…quite something. Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management.”

Five chuckles, confused. “Sorry, what’s that now?”

He re-grips the gun as the Handler walks closer. “Come back to work for us again. You know it’s where you belong.”

She was getting to close for his liking. “Well, it didn’t work out too well the last time.”

She raises a hand to soothe him. “But you wouldn’t be in the correction division any longer. I’m talking about… the home office. You’d have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel.” Five could give less of a fuck about benefits right now.

“You’re a distinguished professional in… schoolboy shorts. We have the technology to reverse the process,” She says pushing lightly down on his gun. “I mean, you… You can’t be happy like this.”

Eight flashes in his mind, she could never be attracted to him as a boy…but not as an old man either. “I’m not looking for happy,” he says his voice faltering. If he could just save her life, he didn’t need to be with her.

The handler turns her head knowing. She pets his jawline with the back of her fingers. He tries not to be intimidated by her sinisterly gentle touch. “We’re all looking for happy. We can make it happen. We can make you… yourself again.”

Five sighs, turning towards the icecream truck. “And what about my family?”

“What about them?” She asks, straight to business.

“I want them to survive.”

The Handler turns to Luther and Eight, sighing as she looks at the icecream truck. She purses her lips. “All of them?”

“Yes, all of them,” Five says annoyed.

The Handler puts on her sunglasses. “Well, I’ll see what I can do.” She sticks out her hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Five pauses looking at it. “One thing.” Five walks over to the chaos, picking up a gun from the floor. He unloads it, tossing the clip and gun into different directions. He walks back to the Handler, but then turns around.

“Mmn…no,” he mumbles, going to reposition the bullet that was in Luther’s direction.

He furrows his brow as he takes the Handler’s hand.

☂

A bullet ricochets off the car, making me jump. Klaus hits Hazel’s and Cha-cha’s parked car hard enough it bounces. I look around, Five is gone. My head feels fine though.

“Five!” I call out, looking around. “Five!”

Luther lifts up the briefcase, challenging Hazel and Cha-cha. As Cha-cha runs for it, Luther chucks it off the side of the road. Luther runs forward to help Klaus and Diego as they stumble out of the icecream truck. I take this as my cue to run to the driver’s side of the car. I start the engine.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I hear Klaus ask as he gets closer.

“Get in the car,” Luther tells them, shoving them in the back.

“Hurry up and get in!” I yell at Luther when he shocked to see me in the front. “GO.” He barrels through the passenger seat, as I slam on the gas. I see Klaus flipping them off in the mirror. I hear Cha-cha scream as they find the briefcase is a bust.

“Oh my god!” I yell in excitement. “I can’t believe we got out of there!”

Diego looks at me confused, as Klaus smiles wildly. I rev the gas more, speeding on our way home.


	8. The Day That Wasn't

Five didn’t come home last night. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, we assume he made some sort of deal with the Handler. Or is currently negotiating it.

The sun doesn’t even have time to come around my room when Luther knocks on my door. I ask what’s up, and he tells me we’re gonna have a family meeting soon. I sigh, putting on something fresh to wear.

I meet Luther downstairs with Klaus, Allison, and Diego. Allison was kind enough to get us all coffee for this meeting. Luther starts to rundown the situation with everyone else.

“Three days?” Allison asks.

“That’s what Five said,” Luther explains.

Klaus shifts how he sits. “The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it. He just left out the part about how soon.”

“But can we trust him?” Allison asks, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Five’s a little…” She whistles coo-coo.

“Our little psycho,” Klaus chuckles.

“He may be a little, crazy, but he seems to be onto something about the apocalypse,” I say in his defense. “Why else would people attack our house and hunt Five?” I take a sip from my latte.

“That’s why they were after them?” Diego asks.

“Yeah.”

“What did Five even see?” Allison asks. I bite my lip.

Luther turns to her nervous. “Uh… Apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible.” He nods. I look at Luther, eyeing him to just say it. Allison leans in a little closer to him. He clicks his tongue. “Okay. So, here’s the plan,” he says getting up, “Uh, we go through Dad’s research—.”

“Wait, what?” Allison asks. Everyone starts to talk over each other. “Hold on, hold on.”

“Oh, come on Luther, just tell them,” I add.

“Wait a tick, wait a tick, wait a tick,” Klaus interjects, “What actually happened the first time around?”

Diego looks towards Luther. “Yeah. What are you not tellin’ us? Come on, big boy, spit it out.”

Luther pauses uncomfortably, sighing. “We died,” he whispered, before taking a sip of his drink.

“What was that?” Allison asks.

“He said, we died,” I say louder. “Five saw all of us dead.” Everyone looks over at me, thrown aback.

☂

Five followed the Handler to HQ, hidden safely in 1955.

“I must admit, Number Five, in all the time that I’ve been here, I’ve never met anyone quite like you. Hazel and Cha-cha, for example, are talented, certainly, but… they can’t see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well, it reminds me a great deal of myself, if… I may be so vainglorious.” Five ignores her flatteries. She takes notice. “If things work out for you here, you could potentially make a fine successor, Five.”

As they enter the building, the Handler passes her coat to someone walking by.

“I’d like to discuss the logistics of my family’s safety at your earliest convenience,” he says cordially. He always hated the business talk. “As well as this body replacement.”

Five had to admit he was mildly interested in having his old body back. His chances with Eight felt too far to reach, but he could at least be treated his age. Time changes everything. You can’t just pick up where you left off.

“Such chutzpah!” The Handler exclaims, “It’s refreshing, I’ll admit. Slow down, Five, all in good time. In fact, now that you’ve finally agreed to work with us, we’ve got all the time in the world.”

Five takes note of every hallway they pass.

“The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the time line of events and mankind’s free will.” Five gazes into the window of the briefcase room. “The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You’re management now,” the Handler says, placing her hand on his back. “One of us. All the people on this floor are case managers, each one responsible for one major event at a time.”

She turns him to face a large room, filled with rows and rows of people clacking away at typewriters.

“So many of them,” Five comments.

“Impressive, isn’t it? Being part of something… so grand.” Five stares into the room, anyone of those people can be responsible for the apocalypse case. “Come along,” the Handler ushers him. “Whenever someone chooses the wrong path and the time line is changed, the Commission gets a report from field agents on the ground. These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager. They determine if anyone needs to be… removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should.”

The Handler leads him to another room. “Based on that determination, the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to… temporal assassins like you formerly were, Number Five.” She smiles at him. “Any queries so far?”

Five shifts his stance. “Yeah. Who was the case manager handling me?”

“Ah,” the Handler says, tracing the outline of his jaw before booping his nose. “You mean the apocalypse.” Her touch feels dirty.

She takes Five to a smaller room with typewriters, probably where he will be set to work. “Five, meet Dot.

“Oh, hi,” she waves with a big grin on her face.

“Dot is responsible for all apocalypse matters. In fact, it was Dot here who first flagged your appearance in 2019. “

“No hard feelings,” she says, the smile still on her face. Five furrows his brow.

“Well, you certainly put us through the ringer. Outsmarting two of our so-called best temporal assassins,” she gets louder, placing her hand on Five’s shoulder. “If that doesn’t spell leadership material…”

Everyone in the room stops, turning to the Handler. Dot’s smile faulters.

“…I just don’t know,” she chuckles. “I suspect… you like a challenge, Five.” She opens up a desk chair for him, gesturing for him to sit. “Which is why I’ve given you a particularly complex first case.”

Five takes the envelope from her, inspecting the inside.

“It’s too bad Joseph Spah decided against sabotaging the fuel tank. It would’ve been so much easier,” she chuckles. “Anywhoo, if you have any questions… I’ll be right behind you.”

The Handler smiles, leaving the office. Five sits down slowly, contemplating the next step.

☂

“Is it just us?” Allison asks.

“It’s everybody,” Luther clarifies.

We started to get hounded by questions, immediately after I said something. Now I understand Five’s frustration with being asked so many.

“In the house?” Diego asks.

“The whole planet?” Allison adds.

“No, outside the house, everyone died,” Luther explained.

“Hey.”

We all turn to see Vanya, along with a guy I don’t recognize. He seems excited to be here.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

Allison looks at us nervously, obviously bothered by Vanya’s guy friend. “It’s a family matter.” I look back at Allison.

“A family matter,” Vanya says disappointed, “So you couldn’t bother to include me.” I shake my head.

“No, it’s not like that,” Luther begins. “We were—.”

“Please don’t let me interrupt,” she says, turning to leave.

“Vanya, wait,” Allison calls out, getting close to her. “I’ll fill you in later when we’re alone.”

“Please, please, don’t bother. And I won’t either.”

“Vanya, that’s not fair.”

“Fair? There’s nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember,” she turns to all of us. “And I used to think it was Dad’s fault, but he’s dead. So it turns out you’re the assholes.”

She leaves the room, her friend following right after her.

“ouch,” Klaus says.

A dull ache sits in my chest. I never- I mean, I didn’t think to include myself with any of my siblings when I left Dad. I didn’t think anyone still longed for a connection…

“I’m gonna go find Vanya and explain,” Allison says, starting to walk out.

Luther stops her. “No, wait, there isn’t time. We need to figure out what causes the apocalypse. Now, there are loads of possibilities. Nuclear war, asteroids. But I’m thinking this is about the Moon. Right? Dad must have sent me up there for a reason. And I was giving him daily updates on the conditions, I sent field samples. So the first thing we need to do, is find his research.”

Everyone looks just as disappointed as I do. I shake my head. Luther can’t let the moon go. There was no purpose to the moon, Luther. It’s sad how bad he wants there to be one.

“Hold on. Hold the phone,” Klaus interjects. “We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?”

“Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?” Diego asks.

“Five,” Luther states. “Last time we didn’t have him. We weren’t all together. This time we’ll have the full force of the Umbrella Academy. That’s what we need.”

Klaus walks around the room gagging, possibly from a bad batch of drugs?

“So, where’s Five now?” Allison asks.

“Well, he had a plan to change the time line. He’ll be back soon.” He states. Hopefully.

Diego stands up. “I’m going after Hazel and Cha-cha.”

“What, right now?” Luther asks.

“Hell, yeah. Three days. I’m losing light by the minute.”

Luther begins to walk after him. “Look, I know you wanna avenge your friend, but we got a bigger problem here.

“She wasn’t just some friend, Luther,” Diego snaps. Oh. “If I’m gonna die, I need to know I killed those bastards first. It’s not about Dad. The longer I wait, Hazel…” I know we need everyone here, but I don’t have the heart to convince him to stay.

Diego walks out after biting into Luther. Klaus sighs, leaving the room.

“Klaus?” Luther asks, “Klaus!”

He turns around, hands in the air. “Yeah! Sorry.”

“So, what? You’re giving up on the world, too?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Mm-hmm.”

“So that’s it. You’re cool with us all dying in three days?”

Klaus groans, ignoring the question as he leaves the room.

“I can’t believe it,” Luther says, turning to Allison and I. “It’s just us.”

I chew my lip. We need everyone, or else it’s the same as last time. “It doesn’t matter, Luther. Five’s not here.”

“What?” Luther asks worried.

“I’m sorry,” is all I can muster as I leave the room. There’s no way we can do this without everyone.

☂

Five pulled back on the typewriter’s return lever, finishing up his assignment. Dot leaned over in her desk.

“Hiya, Five. How’s it going?”

“I must have utter silence in order to complete this task,” he says unflinching. Pulling the document free, Five begins to roll it.

“Oh, okay,” Dot stammers. Dot sits straight in her seat before leaning over the other side. “Hey, a few of us are having lunch, and I was wondering if you…”

Five loudly clears his throat.

“-you’re doing something.”

Five finishes popping the order into the pneumatic tube, leaving to take the order out.

“Oh, Bye—Bye!” Dot says waving to him.

Five walks down to the tube room, examining the different timelines and secret locales that each tube leads to. He finds the correct one for his case, ready to send the tube.

“I’m afraid that’s not procedure,” the Handler says over his shoulder. She takes the tube from Five, not surprised by her supervision of him. “Five, meet Gloria.” An older woman comes out from behind her desk, to greet them. “Gloria is perhaps the single most vital cog in our machine.”

“Oh!” she chuckles, waving off the compliment with a toothy grin.

“Gloria, this is Number Five,” the Handler says, opening the tube to inspect the order.

“Oh. Look at you,” Gloria says as if she’s actually speaking to a boy. A part of Five cringes. “Deadly little thing. So happy we decided to close the contract on your life,” she chuckles, taking the tube from the Handler.

“I’m afraid your reputation precedes you. And it looks like you’re building on it here,” the Handler says putting her hand on his shoulder. She reads the order. “Oh. Karl Weber. Now tell me, why unfortunate Karl?”

Five smiles wide, knowing that this is all part of her little game. “Karl Weber is the butcher at the shop where Captain Ernst A. Lehmann acquires his weekly roast,” he explains to the room. “So, if Karl dies, his butcher shop is passed on to his son Otto, who… never washes his hands, which is disgusting.”

“So he’s the one who gives the captain his roast.”

“And that gives him food poisoning.”

“Which makes him late for work. Which delays the takeoff.”

“And to make up for lost time, the Hindenburg flies through a weather front of high electrical charge and humidity.”

“And the static electricity inside the aircraft makes it a virtual tinderbox.” Five nods, impressed with himself. “Tiny engine sparks…”

“And just like that, we have…” Five says mimicking with his hand, “BrOOom.”

The Handler laughs as Gloria laughs nervously.

The Handler takes Five back to the office to brag on his behalf.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard that Mr. Five has proven to be as adept with a pen as he was with a sword.” She pats him on the back to usher him back to his seat. “Let his effort serve as inspiration to you all. Herb! How long have you been on the Lusitania?”

“Oh, ah…Well, let’s see, I uh… I…”

“Sorry?”

“When I first started…”

“Sorry? I can’t hear you. Still can’t hear you.”

The buzzer goes off for lunch. Everyone gets out of their chair except Five.

“Oh, Gene, a word before you go to lunch. Gutenberg seems to be having second thoughts about the printing press,” the Handler says while leaving the room.

Now it’s Five’s chance. He swivels his chair to grab Dot’s apocalypse file, tucking it in his blazer. Knowing that he can’t read it where someone might catch him, he heads to the bathroom stall to read it. He sighs, locking the stall. As soon as he opens it, the main bathroom door opens.

“Shit,” he whispers to himself.

A familiar clacking of heels, walks across the room next to him.

“So how’s your first day going?” The Handler asks. 

Five smiles annoyed. “Couldn’t be better.”

Five closes the file, confused and disgusted as he hears the Handler cough as she uses the bathroom.

“I burned my rugae.” Five tucks the file back in his vest. “Ever burn your rugae? Rugae. The ridges on the hard palate that help pass food to the esophagus.” God, this woman was gross. Did anyone tell her not to talk to anyone while on the toilet? “Anyway, I’m on a liquid diet for two days, hence the marathon of urination.”

Five pats the file down to smooth it out, closing his arms over it. He couldn’t lose now because the Handler can’t shut up on the toilet.

“One faulty cog, and nothing works as it should. You know, we value integrity at the office above all else.” Five furrows his brow, understanding this is more of a threat. “Trust is essential, and that trust is… built over time,” she says finishing up. “But in the event of a breach, the Commission will act swiftly and without mercy. An efficiency I’m sure you above all people can appreciate, Number Five.”

Five readjusts his clothes, making sure the files hidden.

“I’m feeling peckish. Have you had your lunch?”

Five shakes his head in a mix of frustration and bewilderment. “Not yet.”

“Great. How would you like to have lunch with me in my office? You can eat solid foods, and I can live vicariously…” she says, peaking her head over the stall. “through you.”

Five looks up at her, smiling sarcastically. “Sounds great.”

☂

I wish I had an idea of how long it would take Five, so I’d know if something went wrong.

I lay on my bed remembering all the times that Five would pop in to check on me. He was always apologetic about jumping in my room, but never wanted Reginald to find out. I remember telling him about the first time they appeared on TV, the Umbrella Academy, after stopping the bank robbers; How cool they all looked with their domino masks, and how I wished I could’ve joined them there.

Dad said I had no use in combat, so I never joined them on the field, but I at least got to travel with them around the world. I really only had that above Vanya.

I remember the time that Five let me try on his domino mask, and he said it made me look cooler. I joked around doing a hero pose, telling him I needed a badass name to go with it. ‘The Cell Combiner,’ I said jumping on my bed. ‘The Tissue Tangler.’ I wiggled my fingers. ‘Flesh Weaver sounds cooler,’ Five said nonchalantly. Of course, his idea was better, but my powers were never as cool as that.

I sigh, pulling my thoughts back to now. The world ends in three days. There’s no time to make new memories.

I head down the hall, to the Surveillance room. I watch a couple tapes from our weekends, when we could actually have fun in the house. I miss when we were all a united front, or at least, able to tolerate each other to smile and joke around. It warms my heart.

Then I notice Reginald writing in some clips, with a familiar clipboard next to him. I squint at the image; I think it’s training data. When we were kids in training, Reginald would always record our progress. This must’ve been him writing about our powers. I remember a couple days ago, when I was looking for information about time travel and Five. I never looked through all the books.

I run upstairs to Dad’s office.

☂

The Handler sips her straw. “And that’s how Phil determined that the archduke just had to go. Care for dessert?”

Five mouths no. “I had a bad Twinkie in the apocalypse once. It kind of put me off desserts.”

“Please, indulge me,” the Handler says, offering a bowl of candy. Five reaches over and grabs a piece. He sighs while the Handler lights a cigarette. “What’s that taste like to you?”

Five rolls the hard candy on his tongue. “The 1950s?”

“Precisely right. Our clever metaphysics division concocted a way to perfectly distill an entire decade into a single candy. This one’s modeled after the Fudge Mutt, America’s favorite in 1955.”

“Remarkable,” Five says actually impressed.

“You’ll be happy to know it’s the very division that’s building your new body. Oh, that reminds me, I have something for you.” She presses on the intercom. “Carla?”

“ _Yes?”_

“Would you bring the box in, please?”

“ _Certainly._ ”

Footsteps approach, with Carla placing a large box onto the Handler’s desk. Five looks at is suspicious.

“Go ahead, look at it.” A suit. “Clothes make a man, Five. Won’t it be nice when you can actually wear it?” He lifts the material, while good, it feels like another play. “Very soon, I assure you. They’re perfecting your body as we speak.”

Five nods a bit. He just wishes things could’ve played differently. “Thank you. It’s a very fine gift.” Five closes the box before turning his attention to something else in the room. “Is that a Chinese flamethrower?”

“Good eye.” Five gets closer to inspect it. “War. Such a fascinating concept. A temporary salve for a permanent human flaw. Course, it’s a bit easier to see from 30,000 feet.” She chuckles. “These are just some of the things I’ve collected in my travels. M26 grenades from the Vietnam War. And this, the most noteworthy, perhaps. My Walther pistol. The very one Hitler used to kill himself. We’re not supposed to take these kind of things, but… he wasn’t gonna use it anymore,” she whispered. “Feel… how perfectly balanced that is. Hm?”

Five takes the pistol, holding it in his hands. “I had some thoughts I wanted to run by you. Some suggestions to improve Commission protocol.”

The Handler takes the pistol back. “Mm! Shaking things up already.” She pets his cheek. “I admire that. Go on! Do tell!”

Five follows her around the room. “Gloria.”

“Mm.”

“The tube operator. Wouldn’t it be simpler if case managers were to send their own messages?”

“I appreciate the thought. I really do. But everyone loves Gloria. I—I would never hear the end of it,” she chuckles. “She’s been with the Commission family for years, and she’s this close to making pension.”

Someone knocks at the door. It’s Dot.

“Sorry to interrupt. May I have a moment alone?” she asks.

“Of course.” She turns to Five. “Duty calls. We’ll continue this discussion later, Five.”

Five smirks. “Sure. May I?” he asks gesturing to the candy.

“Please.”

☂

The books are exactly how I left them. I quickly skim the remaining books looking for anything about our powers. I find one on Luther, that seemed to be updated with what happened a couple years ago. I move on from it, feeling like I know most of it already. A couple books latter, I think I find something.

_Number Eight. Powers appear to mend flesh back together. Does not affect the endocrine system or nervous system signals._ Yeah, I knew that. _Failure to focus may result self-inflicted wounds._ I know this already. I skim ahead, looking for any amends, something that isn’t progress data of my healing abilities. Then something catches my eye. Five. Mentioned in my book. _Note: Number Five’s powers seem to have a negative physical effect on Number Eight unlike the other children. More research needed._

I can feel myself frantically searching the pages. What did he know about us? Was he aware we…visited each other? I freeze.

_I speculate Number Eight’s link to Number Five’s power may have to do with Eight’s perception of cells. As Five jumps through space, Eight can no longer detect his cells, throwing off her sense of space._

Wait. I never- when he jumps- I can detect without touch? Is that what he means?

My powers don’t need touch?

☂

Five sneaks around the hallways of the commission. He jumps into the tube room, hearing Dot warn Gloria about him. As soon as Dot walks out he jumps behind Gloria, taking her out. Opening the pneumatic tube, he finds the message they were going to send to Hazel and Cha-cha.

REASSIGNEMENT: PROTECT HAROLD JENKINS.

Five quickly crumples it in his pocket, typing out two new messages to throw them off the scent. He quickly sends them out to both of them.

“You know that’s not how we do things here.”

Five turns to the Handler, obviously caught. He leans up against the tube sender.

“Where’s Gloria?”

“Don’t know. Couldn’t find her anywhere.”

Gloria groans on the floor behind them. Five backs off the wall.

“You’re a great disappointment to me,” she says her voice becoming more sinister. “You can’t change what’s to come, Five.” His face twitches. “I truly find it so odd that you can’t shed this fantasy. You’re a first-rate pragmatist. You belong here with us.”

Five’s face moves furiously. “I don’t belong anywhere thanks to you. You made me a killer.”

“You were always a killer. I just pointed you in a direction,” she says pulling the gun on Five.

He jumps just in time for the bullet. Five more bullets go off, in the spot Five was. Someone set off the alarm. When he hears her step closer, he shoves a cart at her body. She pulls the trigger on him again, but he’s already gone.

“What’s the rush Five? We’re just getting started. Is this really how you want the last line of your report to read?”

Five jumps right in front of her. “When I’m done, I’m done, I guess,” he smiles cocky.

“You can’t keep this up, Five. We both know that even you have a limit.” He stares into her. “I saved you from a lifetime of being alone. You owe me.”

Fives nostrils flare as he thinks about his family. Not alone anymore bitch. She tries to pull the trigger but she’s out of bullets.

His grin grows wider. “I do owe a debt.” He jumps behind her. “But it’s not to you.” Five rolls an M26 towards the Handler, quickly ducking outside the room. BOOM. Five quickly jumps to the briefcase room, setting everything up for travel, before pulling another grenade in the room. He opens the briefcase before the explosion can touch him.

☂

_Morning… Again_

“Hold the phone,” Klaus says, “We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?”

“Klaus, shockingly, has a point? What gives us a win this time?” Diego asks.

I jump in my seat as a blue light crackles in the room. Five lands on the bar counter, on top of a briefcase.

“Je-Jesus,” Allison says jumping back.

“You guys, am I still high, or do you see him, too?” Klaus asks.

“Five, where have you been?” Luther asks.

I rush over to him. “Are you all right?”

“Who did this?” asked Luther as we both picked him up to his feet.

“Irrelevant,” Five says, before stumbling across the room taking my coffee to chug it. I can’t help but stare perplexed.

He sighs. “So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us,” he says seemingly irritated.

“The Umbrella Academy,” Luther says.

“Yeah, but with me, obviously. So it ya’ll don’t get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we’re screwed.” Five has that determined look in his eye. “Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us?” I raise my brow.

“No,” Klaus mutters.

“And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I’ve come back with a lead,” Five says showing us all a folded piece of paper. “I know who’s responsible for the apocalypse.” Allison reaches for it, opening it for us to see. “This is who we have to stop.”

PROTECT HAROLD JENKINS.

“Harold Jenkins?” I ask, looking at Five.

“Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?” asks Diego.

Five downs the rest of my coffee, a glimmer of nervousness in his eye.


	9. The Day That Was

“Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?” asks Diego.

Five throws the empty coffee cup across the room. “I don’t know yet. But I do know that he’s responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now.”

“How is he connected to what’s going to happen?” Luther asks skeptically.

“I don’t know.”

“Wait, so you just know his name?” Diego steps forward asking. “That’s it?”

“That’s enough.”

“There’s probably dozens of Harold Jenkins in the city.”

“Well, we better start looking, then,” Five says snarky.

“Im sorry,” Allison says pulling in everyone’s attention. “Am I the only one that’s skeptical here?” Five cringes, in what looks like a migraine. “I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what’s his name?”

Five looks back her a little bewildered despite his patience. “Harold Jenkins. You know the lunatics in masks that attacked the house?”

“Oh, yeah, I think I remember those guys,” Klaus says coyly.

“Yeah, the one’s that attacked us while you were getting drunk,” Diego says towards Five. I bite my lip remembering how I was high that night.

“Yeah. Them,” Five says unfazed by his taunt, “They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth.”

“The temps what?” Allison asks.

“My former employer. They monitor all of time and space to make sure whatever is supposed to happen… happens. They believe the apocalypse is happening in three days. So I went to commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. ‘Protect Harold Jenkins.’ So he must be responsible for the apocalypse.”

I look towards my siblings, who all seem a little confused.

“What do you mean protect time and space?” “Where is this Hazel, Five?”

“My skin is on fire,” Klaus says to himself.

“Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?” Allison asks.

“You know what else is insane?” Five asks frustrated, “I look like a 16-year-old boy. Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he’s fooling everybody with that overcoat. Everything about us is insane. It always has been.”

“He’s got a point there.” Klaus agrees. I nod.

“We didn’t choose this life, we’re just living it. For the next three days, anyway.”

“But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died,” Allison states. “Why is this time any different? Why shouldn’t I go home to my daughter?”

I can see Five simmering. “Because this time, I’m here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people. Including Claire.”

Allison shifts around. “You know her name?”

“I do, and I’d like to live long enough to meet her.”

“All right. Let’s get this bastard.”

“You had me at Gerald Jenkins,” Diego says confidently.

“Harold Jenkins,” Five and I say in unison. I turn to him, his eyes only flashing towards mine for only a moment.

“Whatever. I’ve already lost two people this week, I’m not losing anyone else.”

“And Luther?”

“Yeah, you go. I’m gonna stay behind and go through Dad’s files. I still think this has something to do with why he sent me to the moon.”

“Seriously?” Diego asks. “Now you wanna make the end of the world about you and Dad?”

Luther shifts his stance. “No. ‘Watch for threats.’ That’s what he told me. You think that’s a coincidence? This all has to be connected somehow.”

“No, we should all stick together,” Allison begs him, holding his arm.

“We don’t have time for this,” Five says, pulling them out of their moment.

“Let’s roll. I know where we can find this asshole,” Diego says, “Klaus, you’re with me.”

Klaus sits up in the loveseat. “Yeah. I—I’m good. I think I’ll, uh—I think I’ll pass, I’m…” Klaus walks past us. “feeling a little under the weather, so, uh…”

“Eight,” Diego nods towards me. I follow Five and Diego as they leave the room. Allison soon catches up behind us.

Diego parks the car outside of the police station. “I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record. We gotta get our hands on this file.”

“And you plan is to what?” Allison asks. “Waltz in there and just ask for it?”

“I know the station like the back of my hand, sis. I’ve spent a lot of time inside.”

“Handcuffed.”

Five looks at Allison in the back. I turn towards Diego eyebrow raised.

“Whatever. Here’s the plan.”

“Plan?” Five asks, “I’m just gonna blink in and get the file.”

“No, that’s not…” Diego shakes his head, “You don’t know the ins and outs of this place okay?”

“I literally just did this yesterday.”

“What?”

“ _My_ yesterday, not your yesterday. It’ll take me two seconds.”

Although confused by that, I pull myself forward on their seats. “Wouldn’t it still be easier?”

“Why don’t I just go?” Five asks again.

“Listen to me. _You_ are not going in there. I made a call. That’s what a leader does. He leads,” Diego says before leaving the car.

Once he’s gone, we all sit there in silence. I shift around in my seat. “It would’ve been so much easier-.”

“Yes,” Five says agreeing with me.

I look towards Allison, who’s focused on the outside. Or maybe not, her mind looks heavy. She must be thinking about Claire. I look outside my own window. I wish I could say something, but I know we don’t have that kind of relationship. Allison gets out of the car without saying anything, and starts ringing a nearby phone booth. Five gets out of the car after her, and feeling obligated to follow, slam my door shut behind me.

“Hey, Vanya, it’s me,” Allison says leaving a message. “I just wanted to… Things have gotten so messed up. And…all I ever wanted was to be a good sister to you. Guess I pretty much failed at that.” I turn my head to Five, who’s just staring at the floor. I turn down to my feet. “But you need to call me, okay? I love you, sis.”

As Allison puts down the phone, Diego walks towards us with a file in his hands.

“So?” Five asks.

“You’re welcome.”

Allison grabs the file from Diego, quickly unfolding it. “Holy shit.”

“What?” I ask.

She turns the file towards us. “Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody.”

Vanya’s boyfriend?

Diego drives us towards the address written on Leonard’s record. When we stop in front of the house, I can’t help but think it’s a little strange. Yeah he gave me weird vibes, but how could he cause the end of the world? Diego slams his car door behind him and we all follow soon after.

“Be careful, okay?” she says to Diego as he marches up the front, “We don’t know what Peabody is capable of.”

“Yeah, he didn’t seem dangerous when I first saw him. Looked kinda scrawny.”

“That’s kinda what I thought,” I mention as Five catches up behind us.

“Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murders,” says Allison. “I mean, look at him.” She gestures towards Five.

“Thanks,” he says unfazed. It makes me smile a bit.

“Good point,” Diego states, “So what’s this guy want with Vanya?”

“I don’t know. How about we ask him after we kill him?” Five asks sarcastically. I turn towards Five but he wasn’t really joking.

“Whoa, whoa,” Diego says turning to Five and I, gesturing us to stay back. “Hey, look, I’m gonna burst through—.” Diego looks around. I also turn my head, to see what he’s looking at. Oh, Allison’s gone. “You know what? It would be nice for people just to stick to—.” Five jumps away and I reach for the wall to stabilize myself. “-the plan.” Diego looks at me massaging my head before turning back towards the door. “Great.”

Next thing I know, Diego jumps through the glass of the door shattering it everywhere. He groans on the floor. Dumbass.

“So much for subtle,” I say as Five opens the front door for me.

“You know, the door was unlocked,” Five comments.

Diego pulls himself from the floor, obviously injured. “Yeah, well, my way works just fine. Spread out.” I sigh. “Yell if you, uh… you know, you’re in trouble.”

“Ah inspiring leadership,” Five says sarcastically.

“One of the greats,” Allison adds in.

As Allison turns to go upstairs, Five pats me on the shoulder, giving me a sympathetic nod before heading to the living room. I head down the hallway, looking at all the photos lined against the wall. Everybody in them seem normal.

“Guys, you need to see this,” Allison calls from upstairs.

We all run up the stairs to catch up to her.

“Allison where are you?” I ask.

“The attic,” she calls from above.

Once we climb up there, it’s a sight to behold. Umbrella Academy posters, action figures, memorabilia, everywhere. He must’ve been a superfan. Except everything seems defaced. Posters with the eyes scribbled out, and action figures with their heads melted. Like an angry Star Wars fan, only worse.

“Someone must’ve had a crush,” I say jokingly.

“All our faces are burnt off,” Allison observes.

“Well, that’s not creepy,” Diego remarks sarcastically. “This guy’s got some serious issues.”

I pick up the action figure of Ben, noticing that the face on him is also burnt off. I run my finger on the melted plastic. Whatever reason he did this, it’s fucking sick.

“Shit,” Five and Diego say at the same time.

“This was never about Vanya,” Allison says. “This was about us.”

“Do you think she knows about any of this?” I ask her. Allison looks unsure.

I hear Five sigh, and a thud on the floor. We look over and he’s collapsed on the floor. My eyes widen, and quickly kneel down next to him.

“Five!” I look at his hands, colored red. “uh- Blood?” Allison helps me open his blazer, looking for where he could be injured. He writhes in pain on the floor, and I notice the bullet in his stomach.

“Jesus, Five,” Diego says.

“Why didn’t you say anything!?” I ask angrily. I feel betrayed. “Why didn’t you come to me?”

“You have to keep going,” he barely mutters. “So… close.”

All my anger washes away as I can tell he’s fainting. He’s lost too much blood. My heart starts racing, knowing we have to act fast.

“Five. Five!” Allison calls, trying to wake him up. Diego pats the side of his face.

I quickly turn to my siblings, fear written on my face, “We need to get him back to the Academy, now.”

The car ride back to the Academy felt like forever, as I pressed down on Five’s stomach, hoping to slow down the blood. I yelled at Diego for slamming on the breaks, not wanting to shift’s Five’s body too much.

“God I wish I could put blood back,” I mutter to myself. I put my hand over Five’s chest, trying to feel the rhythm of his heart. It’s slow. I put my finger under his nose to check his breathing. He is. I feel my eyes getting wet, if he fucking dies like this… I-I swear…

Finally we stop at the academy and I direct my siblings to carry him to the medical room. I run in there ahead of them, pulling open all the drawers for equipment. Towels, disinfectants, scalpels, tweezers, I try to put everything on the cart as fast as I can. I feel the blood pumping through me at a million miles per hour. My brain can’t focus on one thing, I need everything.

Allison and Diego put Five down on the table, and I rush over with the cart. They can tell I’m stressing out, and Allison asks if I need any help. I tell them I need privacy to focus, and I pick up the tweezers. They give me a nod and leave the room.

“Five, I need to know if you’re awake,” I tell him, hoping for an answer. There’s none. Not even a groan. I put my hand in his. “Squeeze if you’re awake, Five.”

I only give him a second before continuing. I place my left hand by the wound, feeling how deep the bullet goes, how many fragments are in there. I take a deep breath in to steady myself before pushing down around the wound, trying to grab the bullet out. Blood bubbles up around the edges, and I’m able to get the main piece out. More blood rushes out, and I quickly put pressure on it with my hand.

Think. Don’t rush. I take a slow breath out, using my powers to focus on the remaining fragments. I take back my blood-soaked hand as I quickly pick out the small pieces. One. Two. Three. I check again. Four. I quickly use water to flush out the open spot, blood and water flowing over onto the table. I place both my hands over Five’s stomach, ready.

I look at my hands, and at Five, the horror of the sight catches my breath. Five could die right now. I could be responsible. Another one I couldn’t help.

“I’m a failure,” I say almost absentmindedly, seeing Reginald and his training in front of me. The people on the verge of death, illnesses and injuries I couldn’t cure, I feel all their ghosts watching me. They could’ve gone to a real doctor, but they were only here for me to experiment on.

The rise and fall of Five’s chest snaps me out of it. He’s still alive. I can do this. I close my eyes, pressing my hands harder down on him, taking a deep breath in. I feel each layer stitch itself back together, one by one, under my touch. I focus on my breathing, not wanting to get excited or nervous. When I feel the surface of the skin heal back together, I open my eyes.

Five is still out, but he’ll be stable now. I let out a deep sigh, rubbing my face, only then remembering that my hands are covered in blood. I quickly clean up Five, wiping the blood of him and the table. I stick my finger under his nose to check his breathing again, except this time my heart’s racing. My hand so close to his lips, I have the impulse to run my finger along its shape.

I snap myself out of it, remembering he almost died a couple minutes ago. I quickly leave the medical room embarrassed of myself, to clean the blood off in the bathroom. Pogo nods at me as I pass him in the hallway, unfazed by how I look like a bloody vampire. I quickly lock the door to the bathroom, starting a bath.

I run my hands through my hair, sighing. I quickly get in the tub. Why did I get so nervous? I already saved him. I feel my face get hot as I remember wanting to trace his face, his lips, his jaw…

I dip my head in the water and groan, “Fuck, I still like him.”


	10. I Heard a Rumor

The sound of a bell ringing wakes me up from my sleep. I climb out of bed to check what it is. It’s Klaus.

“Oh, hey, sis. Nice to see you awake,” he says pointing to my obvious bed head.

“Why are you ringing a bell Klaus?” I ask smiling.

“I’m holding a family meeting in the kitchen, don’t be late~,” he says waving the bell in the air as he continues down the hallway with it.

I at least brush my hair before I head downstairs. I take my seat at the kitchen table, thinking back to last night. I hope Diego and Allison continued without us. I pinch my skin nervously as I remember Five. I still do have feelings…It’s wrong right? Other than the obvious adopted sibling thing. Like Five’s technically an old man, but also physically younger than me. I mean, I’m a little weird myself but-.

Five walks into the kitchen, in his pajamas, visibly tired. I get a little nervous as I was just thinking about him.

“Morning Eight,” he says, taking a seat down next to me.

I try not to make eye-contact. “Morning.”

“Thanks for healing me last night,” he says. My face softens a little, I think that’s the first time he’s thanked me since he got back.

I shuffle my feet. “Yeah, of course, uh… I mean you fainted,” I say pulling my hair back and fiddling with my hands.

Five picks up on my nervousness, and I see him swallow his throat. “I heard you when you were healing me.” My heart stops. He looks me in the eye. “You’re not a failure,” he turns away continuing, “Weak, compared to us, sure. But a failure, no.”

A little part of me is warmed by his words. His awkward way of reassuring me. “Thanks, Five.”

Luther comes downstairs with Klaus, looking hungover to bits. Klaus pours some coffee for me, then Luther, “This will fix ya.”

Luther goes to sip it, and Five takes it from him for himself.

“Nice. Okay,” Klaus says as he pours a cup for himself.

Five takes a sip. “Jesus. Who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?” he asks irritated.

“Can we get started, please?” Luther asks groggy.

“Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison? No?” Klaus asks, “All right, then, this is the closest thing to a quorum…” He bangs on the table with a spatula, and Luther covers his ears. So hungover. “…that we’re gonna get. Now, listen up. There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just gonna spit it out. Yeah.”

He pauses.

“Klaus.” Luther says.

“I conjured Dad last night.”

We all stare at Klaus. Luther looks back at Five and I, and we look back at Klaus.

“I thought you said you haven’t been able to conjure anyone in years,” Luther tells Klaus. Five reaches over the table for Klaus’s cup.

“Ah, yes, I know, but I’m sober. Ta-da! I got clean, yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this… conversation with dear old Daddy himself.”

“Has anyone got some aspirin?” Luther asks turning to us.

“Top shelf, next to the crackers,” Five replies.

“Hey, hey, hey. This is serious, guys, all right? This really happened, I swear.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll play,” Five says gesturing to the room. “What did the old man have to say?” he asks smiling.

“Well, he gave me the usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life. Yada yada yada. No surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn’t soften a hardass like Dad, right? But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because…he killed himself.”

I furrow my brow.

“I don’t have time for your games, Klaus,” Luther says leaving the table.

“I’m telling you the truth, Luther. I’m telling you the truth.”

“Why’d he do it then?” Five asks patient.

“He said it was the only way to get us all home again.”

“No. Dad wouldn’t just kill himself,” Luther affirms.

“Ah, you said it yourself. He was depressed,” Five remarks. “Holed up in his office and room all day and night.”

“No. There weren’t any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors.”

“Like sending someone to the Moon for no reason?” Klaus asks. I bite my teeth.

“I swear to God, Klaus, if you’re lying…”

“I’m not. I’m not.”

“Master Klaus is correct.” We turn to see Pogo in the room. “Regretfully…I helped Master Hargreaves enact his plan.”

“What?” Luther asks.

“So did Grace. It was a difficult choice for both of us.” He sighs. “More difficult than you could ever know. Prior to your father’s death, Grace’s programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night.”

I’m speechless. He killed himself to get us together?

“Sick bastard,” Five whispers to himself.

“So the security tape we saw?” Luther asks.

“It was meant to further the murder mystery. Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together… would reignite your desire to be a team again.”

“And to what end?” Five asks.

“To save the world, of course.”

Klaus laughs. “All right.”

“First the Moon mission and now this.” Luther shakes his head. “You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?”

“Calm down, Luther.”

“No, I won’t calm down. We’ve been lied to by the one person in this family we all trusted.”

“It was your father’s dying wish, Master Luther. I…I had no choice.”

We all heard the pain in Pogo’s voice.

Luther steps up to Pogo. “There’s always a choice.” Pogo drops his head down in shame.

I turn to Five, seeing that he’s rubbing his face with his hands. He sighs, “I gotta think.” He flashes out of the room, to my dismay.

I sigh, looking at Klaus.

“Do you know how to knit?” He asks me.

I tilt my head a little confused. “No, I don’t.”

“Would you like to learn with me?”

“Why not.”

Klaus takes me up to his room, opening up a tote box filled with yarn and knitting needles. He grabs out two balls of yarn, shoving one in my hands.

“I tried to learn the how to knit when I was in rehab. They said it was ‘good to have a hobby’ or something,” Klaus says gesturing around. “Never got quite sober enough to learn, though. Might as well try now.”

I think about this new sober Klaus. “Hey, you’re really sober right?” I ask.

He hands a pair of knitting needles to me. “Yeah.”

“Do you think you can tell something to Ben for me?... It doesn’t need to be now,” I ask running my hands over the yarn.

Klaus eyes flicker to an empty space in the room. He looks nervously back at me, “Sure.”

“I want you to tell him I’m sorry. I know- you said no one could do anything, but I panicked. He deserved care from someone more… put together.” I bit my lip, as Klaus just looks at me sadly.

“He wouldn’t blame you, Eight. He never has.” Klaus tells me.

I let out a sniffle, and my hands start to tremble. I’ve been holding onto guilt for Ben for so long… and he never blamed me for it. Klaus puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on sis, let’s fail at knitting.”

Klaus had an instructional knitting book, going step by step on how to knit. I started to skim it, looking for projects for us to do while Klaus laid back on his bed.

“Do you want to try making hats?” I ask.

Klaus fiddles with the needles, wrapping the yarn lazily around it. “I don’t know, we wouldn’t use them for months, anyway.”

There’s a knock at the door.

“Hey. Get up. We’re going,” Five says entering the room.

“Where?” Klaus and I ask in unison.

“To save the world.”

“Oh, is that all? Great,” Klaus says putting down his knitting.

“So, Pogo said Dad killed himself to get us all back together, right?”

“Yeah, he did.” I say.

“So it got me thinking. I had to jump to the future to figure out when it happened, but Dad, he can’t time travel. So how’d the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?”

“Well, you know-,” Klaus begins.

“Don’t answer. That was purely rhetorical. Truth is, our whole lives, he’s been telling us we’d save the world from an impending apocalypse.”

“Yeah, but I always thought he just said that to scare us into doing the dishes,” Klaus says shoving a boot on.

“Me too. But what if the old man really knew it was going to happen?”

“Knew how?” I ask Five.

“No idea. But the fact remains, his fakakta plan worked. We all came home. Since we’re here, we might as well save the world.”

“Oh yeah? What, like, the three of us?” Klaus asks, pulling on his shirt.

“Uh, well, ideally, no, but… gotta work with what I’ve got.”

We follow Five down the hallway. Diego runs towards us and into his room.

“Where have you been?” Five asks.

“Jail. Long story. Where’s Luther?”

“Haven’t seen him since breakfast.”

“Yeah. Two days until the world ends, he picks a great time to drop off the grid,” Klaus comments.

“Shit,” Diego mutters. “Allison is in danger.”

We turn to each other.

Klaus thinks he might have a lead on where Luther is, and we follow him out of the house. Klaus brings us to a dingy looking bar downtown.

“Klaus,” I tell start to scold him.

He opens the front door, “Look.”

Inside Luther’s sitting by himself at one of the tables.

“Trying a little hair of the dog, are we? Hm?” Klaus asks.

“Leave me alone.”

Diego sits down next to him, “Give us a minute.”

Klaus steps back, turning to me and Five. “Okay. Come on. Maybe they’ll brood each other to death.”

We lean up against a table near the front, while the boys talk to each other. We watch Luther monologue about being sick of Dad, knowing that the moon trip was a failure. Klaus turns over to us, tapping his wrist, signaling the time.

“You want to turn you back on me,” Diego says turning to us, “those guys, that’s fine. But Allison deserves better than that.”

“Allison? What are you talking about?” Luther asks.

“Well, we got ahold of Harold Jenkin’s police file. Turns out Vanya’s boyfriend is a convicted murderer. Who would’ve seen that coming? A little hard to trust anyone who wears corduroy,” Diego jokes.

“Wait, so…where’s Allison now?” Luther asks.

“She decided to go after Harold Jenkins. Alone.”

“You should have led with that!” Luther says jumping out of his chair. “Jesus Christ.”

Luther runs out the door ahead of us and into the car. We all quickly get in, Five jumping into the drivers seat, with Klaus and I in the front. Five hits the gas, heading towards the roadway.

“Where is this guy?” Luther asks, pulling himself towards the front.

“Not at home,” I bluntly say. “We checked there yesterday.”

“In his record there was an address of his family home upstate,” Five says, keeping his eyes on the road.

Diego chimes in, “She went there.”

“Upstate? That’ll take at least an hour,” Klaus whines, making a pout.

“You should’ve brought you knitting then,” I tell him, “Would’ve kept you busy.”

Klaus scoffs, but smiles.

“This is serious, guys,” Luther scolds us, “None of you guys heard from Allison at all, did you?”

I look towards Diego in the back. His eyes flicker. “No.”

“Then we need to be on our guard, no games in the car,” Luther says.

We stay silent for a while. I out at the empty roadway, a sense of unease growing. Everything it too quiet. No birds as we drive by, we can only hear the wind pass over the car. I bite my lip. Allison hasn’t reached out to any of us. She would tell us immediately if something happened, right? I breathe out heavily, as my mind races to the worst. It doesn’t help the car’s quiet enough for me to hear my own thoughts.

I reach for the knob on the car, turning on the radio. Anything would help. Slow pop. I sigh.

“Why’d you turn on the music?” Luther asks me, “It’s kinda distracting.”

I was just about to say that was the point, when Five cuts in. “No. She can turn on the radio.”

I turn to him, but he’s still 100% focused on the road. I can’t help but smile a little. Klaus leans over to whisper at me, but loud enough for everyone to still hear. “Ya know, he’s nicer to you than us.”

Five furrows his brow at Klaus before turning back at the road.

It feels like an eternity. The repeating background of the country road, it feels like we’re stuck in a loop. The only thing reminding me time’s passing still is the radio.

Luther leans over Five’s seat. “Hey. Can you go any faster?”

“Ask me again, and I’ll burn you with a cigarette lighter,” Five says unfazed.

Luther looks over at me and Klaus before slumping back into his seat.

By the time we get there, the sun already set. Luther leaps out of the car as soon as Five parks in front of the Jenkin’s cabin. He bust through the door and we follow soon after.

“Allison! No!” I hear Luther call.

Then I see her. Allison.

A slash on her throat. The large pool of blood on the floor. Luther was already holding her sobbing. Klaus covered his mouth, trying to hold back tears. Five sees the scene and looks between us.

I’m paralyzed.

Allison. I never had the opportunity to get close to her.


	11. Changes

No.

I can do this.

And Allison will see her Claire again.

I rush over trying to push Luther off of covering Allison. I quickly put my hands on her throat, analyzing the damage. It’s so deep. I feel my confidence drop. But I need to try.

“Quickly! Help me get her to the house!” I yell at the boys.

Luther quickly takes Allison away to the car, nodding at me. I run out after him, telling him to lay her down on the backseat. The rest of the boys follow. I lay Allison’s head in my lap in the car so I can hold the gash. Five starts to speed towards the house.

I push down, trying to stop more blood from gushing out. She’s already lost so much. I can heal in the car, or at least heal a little. Her larynx. It’s damaged. I take a deep breath, trying to heal together some of the surrounding muscle. If I fuck up her larynx, she won’t be able to speak again. I can’t risk that in the car.

I can’t image what did this. It was Leonard, right? But the wound feels so clean, so deep, a knife couldn’t do this. I shake my head. It’s no use worrying about the cause. I need to reverse it.

The road lights blur as we pass.

Five brings the car to a screeching halt, Klaus and Luther helping me rush her body inside the house.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Five says, holding open the front door for the boys.

Luther helps to support her head. “I don’t think she’s breathing.”

His words stir a panic in me. “If we don’t get her upstairs, she’s gonna die.”

Grace helps me set up Allison on the medical table, analyzing the amount of blood she lost. While she does, I rush get a book on the throat, so I can fix this precisely. I leave the page open, focusing on the muscles and the structure of the vocal cords. Sporadically analyzing every little bit. Five holds down Allison’s neck for me.

“She’s suffered from a lot of loss. One of you will need to give blood,” Grace tells us.

The men all turn to each other. “I will.”

“I’m doing it,” Luther says as he starts to roll up his sleeve.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, dear boy,” Pogo says regretfully. “Your blood is more compatible with mine.”

The surgical tools Grace sets up for me clang on the table.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I—I got this, big guy,” Klaus says patting his exposed arm. “I—I love needles.”

“Master Klaus. Your blood is… How shall I say this? Too polluted.”

“Move,” Diego says to Klaus, walking over to Grace. “I’ll do it.”

As Grace turns with the needle Diego faints.

Klaus tries to catch him to no avail. “Whoa.”

“Stick him,” Pogo says assertively.

With the extra blood thanks to Diego, I can focus on repairing the structures. The boys leave the room so I can focus, but Five lingers for a moment. Just as I start repairing the blood vessels, I move onto the trachea. The cartilaginous structure formed in rings. Each layer needs to be perfect. My fingers start to tremble. I close my eyes trying to steady myself.

The hand on my back does it for me. “You can do it.”

I turn to look at Five, his face unwavering. He believes I can. I nod my head before turning back to Allison. His hand rubs along my shoulder, before he leaves the room too.

I try not to press hard with my hands, trying to focus my energy into my fingertips. The cartilage pulls itself back together, flush. The larynx is next. The delicate muscle protecting the trachea, the one that produces the eloquence of sound. Allison’s source of power. I close my eyes, taking in a deep breath. The structure in the medical books flash in my mind, as I can feel the damaged one under my hands. I heal together the cartilaginous structure, hugging the thyroid. The muscles right beneath it, connecting to the ligaments near the top of the throat. Those tiny but powerful muscles quickly strand back together. I sigh in a mix of relief and fear.

The vocal cords.

I test the damage again. Tiny sophisticated muscles. I feel the tear present, taking my time as I work each cell layer back together.

☂

“The bastard that nearly killed our sister’s still out there, with Vanya,” Diego says as he paces around the room. Klaus, Five, and Diego were in the living room, planning what to do next. “We need to go after her.”

“Vanya is not important.”

“Hey, that’s your sister. A little heartless even for you, Five.”

Five gets on the defensive. “I’m not saying I don’t care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us.” He stares into Diego. “Harold Jenkins is our first priority.”

“I agree. Let’s go,” Diego says understanding.

“You guys count me out,” Klaus states looking at the floor. The brothers turn to him. “I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It’s just… I kind of feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so…”

“You’re coming,” Diego orders.

“No, no, no. I mean, I think we can all agree that my power’s…” he waves his hands around. “I mean, it’s pretty much useless. I’d just be holding you guys back.

“Klaus, get up,” Five says.

Klaus is taken aback. “You can’t make me.”

Diego turns to Five, throwing a knife directly under Klaus’s crotch. He flinches and sighs.

“Oh, then again, a little exercise couldn’t hurt. Yeah.”

The boys stared at Harold Jenkins body on the floor. Shards of glass and silverware were poking out of every inch of his body.

“It’s not exactly what I was expecting,” Klaus says bending over.

“The understatement of the year,” Five replies.

“No sign of Vanya.”

Diego turns to the door. “Let’s get out of here, before the cops come.”

“In a minute,” Five sighs, as he walks over to Jenkins body. He pulls the eye out of his pocket, and peels the bandage off of the body’s eye.

“Come on, Five, what are you…” Diego starts before seeing what he’s doing.

“Ugh, wow,” Klaus says in disgust.

Five pops the prosthetic into his face. Diego retches.

“Same eye color, same pupil size. Guys this is it,” Five says turning to them, “The eye I’ve been carrying around for decades, it—It’s found its rightful home.”

Five takes the eye back.

“We got the guy we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse,” Diego observes.

“Yay!” Klaus whispers with a tiny raised fist, “Let’s go.” Diego grabs him by the shirt.

Five feels uneased. “No, no. Wait, wait. It can’t be this easy,” he says shuffling in his pockets. “Look, this is the note that I got from the Commission. The one that says ‘Protect Harold Jenkins,’ aka Leonard Peabody.”

“Yeah?” Diego sighs.

Five points to the body. “But who killed him? Who did this?”

“I have a crazy idea,” Klaus interjects. “Crazy, but why don’t we find Vanya…” Five blinks away. “and ask her what happened?”

“If Vanya got away from this asshole, she might be headed back to the Academy,” Diego theorizes.

☂

I finish up Allison, relieved to hear the heart monitor stable. I let Luther into the room, who’s been waiting outside the door the entire time.

“Is she gonna make it?” Luther asks.

I nod my head. “I don’t know about her vocal cords though.” While I did everything right, I don’t want to give Luther hope. I’ve messed up before.

He sits down in a chair next to her. “Will she be able to talk?” he asks me. The somber look in his eyes pain my heart.

“There’s no way to tell right now,” I say trying to avoid his gaze. Even if I healed everything correctly, it could take time to learn how to speak again. Everything would still feel disconnected until enough time passes.

I leave the room to give Luther space. Allison doesn’t need me anymore.

After washing the blood off my hands in the bathroom, I pass by Diego in the hallway, seemingly in a rush.

“Hey, where are you going?” I ask him as he scrambles in his room.

“Jenkins is dead. I’m going after Hazel and Cha-cha.”

So, the apocalypse…is over? Wait. “You guys killed him already?”

“No someone else did,” he says placing his knives on his belt.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I say furrowing my brow.

“Go ask Five about it or something,” He says as he leaves.

I head down the hallway, hearing Klaus talk to Five.

“-He did mention something about my potential, and how I’ve barely even scratched the surface of my—”

“How did he know about the apocalypse?”

“I don’t know, but listen,” Klaus says as they walk to the bottom of the stairs. I walk on closer, to get a better listen to their conversation. “This whole jumping through time thing of yours, how did… How did you know how to do that?”

“I didn’t,” Five snaps. “You’d realize that if you were actually sober.”

“Hey, I _am_ sober. I’ve been sober for two—almost two days now.”

“Yeah, two days,” Five says mockingly.

“It feels like 45 years,” Klaus sighs.

I take a couple steps down the stairs, trying to be quiet.

“Who are you kidding, Klaus? I’ve seen you fidgeting all day.”

“Well, I guess we’re both fighting our addictions, then.”

“I’m not an addict.”

“Yeah, you are. You’re addicted to a drug called the apocalypse.”

I see Five get that look in his eye. “You’re wrong.”

“First sign. Denial.”

Five flashes around Klaus, and I wince.

He sticks his finger in his face. “You and I, we’re not the same.”

Klaus chuckles. “I’ve seen that look in the eye of someone who doesn’t know who they are without their high anymore.” Five tightens his jaw. “Trust me. You gotta just let it go.”

Glass shatters against the wall making me jump. Five threw the glass eye. Five walks into the living room, past Klaus.

“Figuratively, but yeah, that works too.” He sighs. “One day at a time.”

I head downstairs as Klaus leaves the foyer. I look down at the shattered eye on the floor. I step on some pieces, crunching them beneath my feet. Five has spent a lifetime in the apocalypse. Could Klaus be right about him feeling lost without it driving him? I look into the living room, debating in my head whether or not to speak to him.

I decide to let Five talk if he wants to. If anything, I’ll just go in for a rum and cola. I’m feeling emotionally exhausted.

I walk into the room, seeing Five at the bar with his mannequin and margarita in the blender. He has one in front of her.

“Well, do you think we really did it? Think we really stopped the apocalypse?” he asks her. There’s a gentle somberness to his voice.

I decide to make my presence known by walking louder towards the bar. Five looks over his shoulder to me.

“You want a margarita?” he asks me tired. His age shows with the question.

“No, I’m feeling more of ah… rum and cola,” I say as I sit next to him.

I make my drink, no words exchanged between us. The only sound is that of jazz playing on the handheld radio. I look over at Five as I take a sip, him looking at the mannequin.

“Now what?” he says stirring his straw. I almost respond, before I notice he’s talking to it. “I don’t know. I’m open to suggestion.”

I go to reach for Five’s hand across the table, but the knocking at the door cuts me short. I pull back my hand as Five turns towards the sound.

☂

“Eh, I’ll get it,” Five says as sips his margarita.

He opens the door, sighing.

It’s Hazel with a gun pointed towards him. “Hey, old-timer.”

Five’s tired. “Do you have my sister? And…if not, would you like margarita?” He asks twirling the umbrella in his glass. Hazel looks momentarily confused, but Five leads him in anyway. “Come on.”

Five brings Hazel into the room, and Eight stares at him wide eyed, clutching her glass.

“You’re here to kill me?” Five asks as he takes a seat.

“Oh. Shit. Sorry. Old habits,” Hazel says as he fumbles to put his gun away. Eight calms down a little. “Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know…”

Five takes a loud sip from his straw. “Well, you attacked our house, tried to kill my family, and kidnapped my brother.”

“Well, there’s not much I can do about the past. Don’t forget I’m not the only killer in this room. You got your own bloody history pal.”

Eight’s eyes dart over to Five, who coyly sips his margarita.

“Speaking of which, that job you did in Calhoun, that shit’s legendary. Can’t believe I’m actually sittin’ here talkin’ to you, after all—”

“Hazel, why are you here?”

“Well, I’m, you know—”

Diego runs in kicking Hazel down to the ground.

“Diego, stop!” Five yells.

Diego flips over kicking Hazel in the face. “Get up!”

Eight stands to do something, but Five grabs her arm to sit her down. Diego punches Hazel in the face.

“You know, before you kill him, you might wanna hear what he has to say,” Five comments loudly.

Hazel finally gets up, and shoves Diego off of him. Diego pulls out a knife.

“I’m gonna kill you for what you did to Patch.”

Hazel gestures to Five for help before Diego swings his knife towards him.

Five rolls his eyes. “Or don’t. See how that goes.”

Eight furrows her brow at Five before looking back at Diego.

“Are you gonna--?” Hazel asks as he dodges Diego’s knife near his face.

Hazel grabs Diego’s arm to stop him, but he uses his other hand to plunge it into Hazel’s thigh. Eight winces while Five inhales sharply.

“Oo. That’s gotta hurt.”

Hazel yanks the knife out of his leg, before Diego comes in to punch him in the face again. He kicks Hazel in the stomach before flipping, kicking him in the face. Hazel’s able to grab both of Diego’s arms and headbutt him. Hazel picks him up, squeezing him, until Diego bits his ear. Both yell in pain.

“Are you going to do anything Five?” Eight asks shocked.

Five puts down his margarita before jumping, smashing a glass on the back of Diego’s head, knocking him out.

“I draw the line at biting,” Five says has he hobbles around the room. “Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes around.”

Eight sighs, leaving the room. She looks over at Five before commenting, “I guess I’ll get stuff to heal Diego.”

“I left my partner, quit the Commission, and came to volunteer,” Hazel hastily offers.

“For what?” Five asks taking back his seat.

“To help stop the apocalypse.” Hazel wipes glass off his shoulder.

Five chuckles, taking a sip. “Hm.”

“What on earth could be so funny to you right now?”

“Before I answer that, why do you wanna help us?”

Hazels tone changes. “Let’s just say I have a vested interest in a doughnut shop.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, pal, but you’re a day late and a dollar short,” Five smiles. “The fact that you’re here right now means, without a shadow of a doubt, that the apocalypse is over.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“The mark is dead. Found him this morning. You were the last known unknown left in the equation.”

Hazel chuckles. “Shit. Really?”

Five nods. “Mm-hmm. And if you’re out, then Hellrider ain’t riding.”

“Oh!” Hazel takes a deep sigh of relief. “All right.” He laughs, taking a seat next to Five. He grabs the blender, chucking down the margarita.

Five chuckles at the sight. “Mm.”

“Oh!” Hazel sighs, “So now what?”

“You know, to be honest, I don’t know,” Five says furrowing his brow. “I’ve been chasing this thing for so long, I…I never really thought about the day after.” He lets out a sad laugh. “I don’t know. What about you?”

“I’m done with all this madness. Time to start over. You should do the same.”

Five turns his head, almost scoffing. “That’s easier said than done.”

“It doesn’t have to be hard. I mean, think about it like this. If you never time traveled, you never got caught up with the Handler, what would have happened?”

Five turns to Diego, thinking about how he would’ve grown up with his siblings. With Eight. She would’ve never frozen herself, and he could’ve confessed how he felt. They could’ve been more if things didn’t play out the way they did.

He’d also be as fucked up as everyone else.

“I guess I would have grown up to be an emotionally stunted man-child like everyone else around here,” Five jokes.

Hazel almost laughs. “Well, there you go. Now you can grow up. Good luck,” he says pushing himself off the seat.

Five looks at Dolores, before turning back to him. “Hazel. One more thing before you go.”

“Shoot.”

“Which one of you was the trigger man for Detective Patch?”

“Trigger woman.”

Five sighs. “Huh. That’s too bad. That gun could have cleared my brother’s name.”

“Well, today’s your lucky day, amigo,” Hazel says pulling two guns out of his pockets. “Take ‘em both. I’m done with this life.”

Five flashes a half smile before Hazel walks out. He can’t help but think about what Hazel said. Picking up where he left off.

☂

I leave from the medical room picking up some tweezers and disinfectant for the glass. When I get to the living room, Diego and Five are both gone. Glass still shattered on the floor, and it looks like someone downed my cocktail.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

I sigh, dropping the tools on the table before I go to make another drink. I look for the rum, but I’m starting to believe that’s the glass Five used to knock Diego out. I groan. I find an aged whisky, and decide to down a shot of that instead.

I rub my temples, thinking about what to do next. I mean, if the apocalypse is over, I could just go home. Or live here, I guess, since Dad’s gone. It’s not like I was doing much at my apartment anyway.

The next thing I know the house is shaking. Earthquake. Shit. I duck under the bar, worried about the bottles of liquor rattling on the shelves. At least I’m not high this time.

Once I’m sure the shaking stopped, I run out to the foyer yelling.

“Did anyone else feel that earthquake?”

Klaus and Diego come down from upstairs.

“Yeah,” Diego says, “Think it was a flash quake?”

I have no clue. Next thing I know, Luther pops up, looking grim.

“I need to share something with you guys.”

I furrow my brow. Diego also looks at Luther confused.

“What is it?”

“Dad’s been keeping more secrets.”

Luther leads us down the hallway. He stops in front of an empty wall, before pulling a light fixture. The wall opens up seamlessly, to a staircase leading down. The space below seems to be built from nothing but concrete. I look at Klaus, who’s just as wide-eyed as me.

“What is this place, Luther?” Diego asks sternly.

“Well, it looks like a hidden basement, Diego,” Klaus says, gesturing inside.

Diego shoots him a look before we make our way down. The room is cold and dim. Luther says nothing as his heavy steps echo in the space. Once we’re at the bottom, we the tunnel extends to a hatched door at the other end. It has a window. Feeling off, I start to speed walk to the door. I look inside, my mouth dropping.

“Why is Vanya in there Luther!?”

“Vanya has powers.” I turn to him, and he’s stoic. It throws me off guard.

Diego and Klaus look inside. I turn back to see Vanya yelling and banging against the glass. Pleading. But we can’t hear her. My heart drops.

“You locked up our sister because you _think_ she has powers,” Diego says ready to fight.

“No, I know she does. Pogo told me. He’s always know, so has Dad.”

Diego puts his hand on the door in attempt for comfort. “Why would they hide this from us? I mean, am I the only one that didn’t know this place existed?”

“He hid so much from us,” Klaus mutters.

“He hid it because he was afraid…of her.”

“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Klaus snaps.

“Is it? Dad’s lied about everything else, why is this so far-fetched?” A chill runs down my spine.

“She’s the one who killed Peabody,” Diego points out.

“And cut Allison’s throat.” I look back at Vanya, who’s already crying behind the door. It causes me to cover my mouth.

“Whoa, no. Let’s- I ju—Sorry, just, let’s go back, all right?” Klaus bugs out. “This is Vanya we’re talking about. Our sister. The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as kids.”

“Yeah, I know,” Luther says hastily, “I know it’s difficult to accept—.”

“It’s not difficult to accept, it’s impossible to accept!”

Diego turns to Luther. “No, he’s right. Look, we can’t keep her locked up without proof.”

“Wha-What more proof do you need?” Luther stutters.

“Why don’t we just open the door and ask her?” Klaus says gesturing angrily towards the door. He goes to reach for it, but Luther smacks down his hands.

“No, she’s not goin’ anywhere.”

“No, even if you’re right, she needs our help, and we can’t do that if she’s locked in a cage,” Diego points frustrated.

“Yeah, and for all we know, she might be struggling with this new power. I mean, it must be scary. Terrifying, really, to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do.”

I can’t hold it anymore. I put my hand over Vanya’s on the glass as tears run down my face. She puts her forehead against the glass. If it’s true, Vanya’s just another victim. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.

“Look, if what Pogo told me is even half true, then she’s not just a danger to us.”

Footsteps make us turn down the hall. Vanya’s face grows brighter. Allison’s awake.

Luther’s voice trembles. “Allison, what are you doing down here? You should be in bed.”

Allison pulls a notepad out of her side, writing hastily on it.

Let her go

“I can’t do that. She hurt you.”

She flips to another page.

My fault

“I’m sorry, but she’s staying put.” Allison tries to walk past him, but he stops her. “Just until we know what we’re dealing with.

She tries to walk by him again, but he blocks her. Allison pushes Luther, practically punching him as he doesn’t budge.

“She stays put.”

Allison tries again to walk towards the door, Luther grabbing her in his arms. She punches his shoulder as she sobs.

“Come on. You need to rest.”

Vanya and Allison look at each other, before Luther starts to pull her away. I choke on my tears as I follow Diego and Klaus.

“Come on, let’s go,” I hear Luther tell Allison as we leave.

☂

Five walked down the department store aisle, knowing what he had to do. It didn’t make it any easier for him. He pulled the duffle bag down from his back. He unzips it near the display, pulling Dolores out.

“Hey.”

He stands her torso up, shuffling his hands in his pockets. He was never good at these things.

“I bet it feels good to be back… amongst your friends. And, it’s okay, you can…say it.” He furrows his brow, heartbroken to say it. “We always were an unlikely pair.” She stares back at him knowing. He lets out a chuckle, turning away from her gaze.

“This isn’t easy for me, Delores, and I…” his voice starts to tremble, “I want you to know that I cherish every single minute I ever shared with you, all 23 and a half million of them. A lifetime.” He chuckles again, smiling a bit. “Now look at us. We’re lucky enough, we get a second one.”

Delores teases him.

Five looks up towards the ceiling, flustered a bit. “Yeah. You are right. I do have a lot of growing up to do.”

His mouth twitches, trying to hold back tears. “I’ll never forget you, Delores.”

Five sighs, gazing at Delores as he picks up the bag to leave. He turns to a worker at one of the racks.

“Excuse me, miss?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you give that mannequin something new to wear?” he asks politely pointing towards her. “She likes sequins.” Five pats the worker on the shoulder, leaving her staring confused at the thing.

It was time for Five to return to where he left off.


	12. The White Violin

I take a bath to cool off. As I run the cool water across my face, I can’t help but sigh. Maybe everyone needs to cool. Try again in an hour and get Vanya out of there. Like Klaus said, we need to help Vanya if she can’t control her powers.

I walk to my room wrapped in a towel, passing Vanya’s old room. I pause to look in, feeling pained. Her room was smaller than the rest of ours. Claustrophobic. Trapped by Dad, now she’s trapped by Luther. A chill runs through me.

I’m going to beat the shit out of Luther.

Well, try to.

Once I’m in my room I quickly dress, putting on some good boots. Yeah, kick Luther. Or at least try to while he knocks me over with a pinky. I chuckle. Maybe I’m going a little crazy thinking I can even try to? But the other part of my brain screaming that Luther deserves to get punched in the face.

I start making my way to confront Luther when the ground starts to shake again. Diego pops out of his room as I hear glass shatter somewhere else down the hall.

“Yo, what the hell is going on?”

Klaus also runs out. “Are those explosions coming f--.”

“Vanya,” Luther states coldly.

Pogo turns to us. “We need to get to safety outside the Academy.”

The walls of the house rumble and creak, like the rooms are expanding. A glass fixture shattering springs us into action. I run with Diego and Klaus down the hall.

“Don’t forget mom!” Luther yells at us.

“Yeah…”

We run down the hall towards the stairwell. An explosion goes off behind us. Diego turns to me, yelling to get outside while they get Mom. I nod, hastily making my way down the stairs and out into the street. I turn towards the house, worried as another rumble and blast roars inside. A couple fixtures on the outside of the house shake. I back up into the street just in time for them to crash to the ground.

The academy starts to rumble loud again, and I can hear more glass breaking inside. I brace myself as it grows louder than the others, but it fades. Pauses. My heart begins to calm. Is Vanya…?

The house bellows louder, sure and growing. The house starts to crumble. My heart starts racing.

“KLAUS! DIEGO!” I yell out trying to push out my worst thoughts.

The building crushes beneath itself, piece by piece, taking the structure down with it. It might’ve been a beautiful sight in a different time. I run across the street, trying to brace myself from the clouds of debris engulfing everything.

I hear Diego yelling for Mom, and I turn my head to see most has settled. I run back over to the academy, seeing Diego hunched over the ruins and Klaus pulling him back. She didn’t make it. I swallow my throat, turning back to the front of the ruins, shifting the remains under my feet. I overhear Luther say Vanya killed Pogo. I cover my mouth, not wanting to cry aloud, but my throat is dry. I can’t. I turn back to my siblings, joining them in the circle.

“But Vanya wouldn’t-“

“No, I saw it.” Luther sighs. “Just before we got out.”

“Mom. Now Pogo.” Diego says taking a seat.

“Guys.”

I turn my head to see Five running towards us over the debris, his hair wild.

“This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today.”

Somehow, I feel nothing hearing that.

“I thought you said it was over,” Luther says accusingly, getting closer.

“I was wrong, okay?” Five frantically says pulling out a newspaper. “This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn’t changed.”

“No, that doesn’t mean anything,” Diego says weakly. “The time could’ve been altered since that newspaper came out this morning.”

“You’re not listening to me. When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else,” he gestures towards us. “But here we are. The Moon’s still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy.”

Klaus rips the paper from Five’s hand. “I’m confused.”

“Then listen to me, you idiot!” Five snaps. “Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse.” He sighs. “I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb.” His eyes widen. “Vanya causes the apocalypse.”

“We have to find her,” Luther says.

The sounds of sirens and the flashing of light from a helicopter overhead pull us out of our discussion. I put my hand up, trying to block the blinding light.

Diego stands quickly. “We gotta go, now.”

“Regroup at the Super Star,” Luther commands, “Go!”

Allison runs out quick, not needing to be told twice. Luther follows after her. I see Five turning to leap, and I quickly grab his arm, taking me with him.

We pop up in an alley, and Five stumbles a bit, not expecting the extra weight of me in his jump.

“Eight?” he says confused as he readjusts himself.

Oh god, I’m gonna do this aren’t I? Now’s a better time than never. My heart beats fast, but I have nothing to lose at this point. No one else to lose.

He relaxes his face, more curious from the fact I haven’t said anything. I freeze. The light the moon casts on him makes him look brilliant. His eyes staring into mine, like they’re holding me in place. My ears start to heat up. His eye twitches in confusion, pulling me out.

I try to speak but the words are caught on my throat. Five mimics the way my mouth is open, before trying to walk past me.

“We don’t have time to waste, Eight,” he says scoffing.

I catch his arm. “Exactly,” I mutter.

He turns to me, his brows furrowed.

“I’ve lost so many people, Five. I’ve lost you.” I pause to breathe. His eyes are patient. “If the world really ends tonight and we don’t make it, you need to know that I’m-.” My mouth twitches unsure of how to say it.

“I’m still in love with you.”

Five’s mouth drops slightly, as his eyes search my face. With my hand on his arm, I can feel his heart beating faster. I see his other hand move slightly, hesitant. It clenches before it pulls up, his fingers barely touching my jaw. His eyes look pained as his face inches closer to mine.

I’m pulled into the worst kiss I’ve ever had. I puckered my lips, but he had his mouth all open trying to stick his tongue in my mouth. I start to smile, and the moment his tongue touches my teeth I pull back in laughter. I try to cover my mouth, seeing how offended Five is, but I can’t help it. The four horsemen of the apocalypse, expert time traveling assassin, shit kisser. Water pricks at my eyes.

“What’s so funny?” He asks angry, tossing his arms up. He looks flushed.

“You don’t know how to kiss someone, do you?” I say laughing.

His jaw juts out. “No. It was my first time!”

He looks so angry from embarrassment. I smile, finally able to calm down.

“Let me teach you how then,” I jest, as I pull his face into mine.

I tilt his head, giving him a peck first, before I start to work my lips against his. He starts to get the rhythm, leaning his body into mine as he gets more confident. His left hand runs along the small of my back, while the other holds my head. My heart starts to flutter. I let my hand travel past his jaw to his neck, running little circles with my fingers. He sighs in pleasure, pulling slowly from our kiss.

He holds me into a tight embrace, where I still can’t look in his eyes. His hands grip my back hard, trembling. He sighs, his breath faltering.

“I crushed on you as a kid but- Never did I go a day in the apocalypse where I didn’t think of you.”

He tucks his head into my shoulder. I rub his back, feeling a bit lighter. When he’s ready he pulls away from me, he straightens out his clothes.

“I thought you’d have a problem with the fact I’m sixty,” he says, eyeing me. “Thought I missed my chance.”

“I thought about it for a while… and it’s kinda weird, but so are we,” I say smiling softly at the last part. “Besides it’s not like I haven’t dated older men before.”

Five snorts before grabbing my hand. “Let’s go meet the others. I’d like to not die tonight.” He coyly smiles, as he flashes us away.

We warp up behind the bowling alley, and I grip Five’s shirt to stabilize myself. My knees feel like jelly. He places his hand on my back to help me up.

“Guess I’m not really used to that.”

He chuckles before leading me around the block.

“Wait- Five,” I say, reaching out for his shoulder.

He turns towards me attentive, “What is it?”

I shuffle my hands, nervous. “What about our siblings?... Do you think they’ll notice anything?” We all know Luther and Allison have a _thing_ but they haven’t done anything to our knowledge. I’d hate to be the one to get shit, especially since the Five situation is so odd. Odder than being adopted siblings.

Five picks up on my worry, and reassures me. “They’re dumb as rocks. We’re more likely to die tonight, than for them to figure it anything.”

“ _Oh good._ ”

Once inside, I feel a tiny bit of gratitude that we aren’t the last ones to meet up. Diego and Klaus were sitting at one of the alleys, and we exchanged our shoes before joining them. Shortly after, Allison and Luther arrived. Everyone looked at each other, expecting someone else to speak first. The people clapping at their strike next to us was daunting.

Luther breaks the silence. “Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare.”

“For what?” Diego asks.

“To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya.”

Allison smacks Luther’s arm.

“I--. We may not have a choice, Allison.”

“Luther,” I say incredulous.

“Bullshit,” Diego comments. “There’s always options.”

“Yeah, like what?” Five asks. I turn to him confused.

“I don’t know.”

“Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya,” Luther says standing, “And fast, okay? She could be anywhere.”

“Or…here,” Klaus says gesturing to the newspaper, “Look at this.”

He opens the paper for us all to crowd and see. An ad for the orchestra with Vanya plastered on the cover.

“That’s right. Her concert is tonight,” Diego observes.

“Hello.” I turn my head to see an employee. “I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you’re not gonna bowl, you gotta leave.”

“Whose turn is it?” Diego asks us.

“Oh, for…” Luther chucks a bowling ball, skipping across the alleys.

Allison taps her notepad for everyone to see.

She’s our sister

Luther shakes his head. “We’re the only ones capable of stopping this. We have a responsibility to Dad.”

“To Dad? No, I’ve heard enough about—” Diego starts.

“He sacrificed everything to bring us back together.”

“I’m with Luther on this one,” Five says. I turn to him. “We can’t give her a change to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake. We’re past trying to save just one.”

“Five, we can’t kill her,” I say sternly. His mouth twitches, conflicted.

“Hey, you know, guys, uh… maybe I could help,” Klaus says nervously.

Five shakes his head.

“Now is not the time,” Luther scolds.

“No, let him finish,” Diego says. We all turn to him. “He saved my life today.”

“Is that true?”

“Yeah, yeah, I did…take credit for it. In fact, the real hero…was Ben.” I inhale sharply. Klaus sighs as he sees everyone doubt him. “Today…Listen. Today, he punched me in the face. And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego’s life, not me.”

“You are unbelievable, Klaus,” Luther comments.

“You want proof, is that it? All right.” Klaus picks up a bowling ball. “I—I’ll give you proof. All right, it’s showtime, baby. Catch.”

He tosses the bowling ball, and I feel my heart drop when it bounces off the ground. Klaus shrinks in himself.

“Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?”

“You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid.”

Luther’s and Allison’s eyes widen. My mouth drops and I can’t help but smile.

“Which was a complete…It—It wasn’t his fault, ‘cause he was ridiculously high, right?” I have to cover my mouth. “And—And the girl, she thought he was a furry…”

“Stop!” Luther mutters embarrassed.

“Okay,” Klaus whispers.

Allison turns to leave, and Luther follows right after. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh out loud at the situation. A furry is the cherry on top.

“Excuse me!” A lady and her son walk up to us, trying to get the attention of Five. “Excuse me, it’s my son Kenny’s birthday today, and…Uh…wouldn’t your son be happier playing with kids his own age?” I see Five’s face twitch as I snicker. “Assuming it’s okay with your two dads.”

I cover my mouth again as I gaze over at Klaus and Diego, both looking confused.

“I would rather chew off my own foot,” Five snarls.

The woman taken aback by his venom, ushers her child away. Five’s attention is turned somewhere else and he runs over to another alley. I look back at my brothers smiling.

“If I was going to date a man, you’d be the last man I would date,” Diego jokes.

“You’d be lucky to get me.”

I get up to check on Five, but he jumps away just before I can talk to him. Well, shit. Okay. We’re gonna have to talk about communication. I slump back into my chair, sitting with Diego and Klaus. I can feel Klaus glaring at me.

“Something’s different about you, I can tell,” he says teasingly.

My heart stops. It looks like he’s seeing right through me. “I mean, I didn’t do anything if that’s what you’re insinuating,” I lie.

“I see a little sparkle in your eye that wasn’t there before, that’s all,” he says gesturing to my face. Fuck he knows something.

Diego looks at me. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure you’re sober?”

I watch them bicker with each other, wondering what the hell was so important that Five left. He more than anyone cares about stopping this. He knows that we need everyone…

I sigh, deciding to take a turn at bowling. Gutter ball. Is it weird to feel abandoned, when we aren’t even in a relationship? It was just a kiss…

I chuckle. Oh yeah, the world ends tonight, silly me. My feelings don’t matter, if I can’t live to work them out.

Diego and Klaus join me in taking turns while we wait for Allison and Luther to come back. Surprisingly, Klaus and Diego are equally good at it.

“I know my worth,” Klaus jokes, referring to their earlier bickering.

Maybe we should all go bowling again when the world isn’t ending.

Luther comes back in with Allison. “All right, where’s Five?”

“He left,” Diego answers. I sigh.

“Oh, for the love of… Where’d he go?”

“Didn’t tell us.”

“Well, we’re not waiting around for him. The concert starts in 30 minutes.”

“All right, so what’s the plan?” Diego asks.

“Well, I think that, uh…” He pauses looking unsure. “We go to the Icarus Theater.”

“That’s a location, not a plan. What? Is that all you got?” Luther doesn’t say anything. “Look, you wanna be Number One, fine, but you’re gonna have to get us on the same page, because right now, we’re all over the place.”

“You’re right. We need a plan.”

Diego turns his head, and before I can see what he’s looking at, bullets ricochet off the bowling counter. Everyone ducks as bullets rain through the bowling alley.

“Get down!” Luther yells.

We duck down behind the counters. The sound of gunfire is so thick I can barely hear Diego ask who the hell these guys are.

“Maybe they’re here for Kenny’s birthday!” Klaus yells covering his ears.

My brain can barely process what’s going on. Why the fuck are we getting shot at now? Chunks of debris and people’s food flies through the air above our heads.

“No, I’m pretty sure they’re here for us!” Luther exclaims.

Diego jumps up to throw a knife at one of the gunmen. He must’ve got him, as the lights switched to blacklight, and the record started playing. I look over the counter, to finally look at these masked weirdos. They start shooting at us again with the same ferocity.

Luther chucks a bowling ball at one of them, knocking them to the ground. Diego joins him as they throw stuff at our attackers. Klaus chucks a cake. Whatever works.

“They’re blocking the exit!” Klaus remarks.

“So, what’s the plan now, Luther!?” Diego asks.

I turn to Allison, who points down the bowling alleys. Luther notices.

“The lanes! Let’s go!”

Allison and Luther run for it.

I hesitate. I whisper fuck underneath my breath as I join them.

I don’t want to get shot.

My heart races as I run down the lanes and can feel the bullets pass by my feet. The blood burns in my legs. I slide through the lane, catching up with my siblings as we run through the back door. The adrenaline still rushing through me, my whole body feels tense.

“I wasn’t made for gunfire,” I say catching my breath.

“We need to get to the Icarus theater, now!” Luther yells. We follow him as we run through the city.

Once we get inside, we run up the foyer to the concert hall doors. Allison stops us, holding up her notepad.

I need to go alone

“Allison, I can’t let you do that, all right? She’s beyond reasoning,” Luther says.

“You hear the music?” Diego asks, “It’s started.”

I do hear it. There’s something hauntingly beautiful about those strings.

“Do you honestly think she’s gonna listen? After everything that’s happened?” he sneers at her.

“We don’t have time for this,” Klaus mutters, nervously.

“Just let her go Luther,” I say softening my gaze towards Allison. She acknowledges me.

“Okay.”

Allison runs down the hall, into the concert.

“You’re using her as a distraction, aren’t you?” Diego asks.

“It’ll be our best chance to incapacitate Vanya. She’ll thank us later.”

Klaus sighs uneasy. I feel dumb for briefly trusting him.

Diego and Luther march towards the concert hall, Klaus and I following behind.

“So, what’s the plan?” Klaus asks.

Luther turns back around to look at him. “Uh, you wait out front.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you’re the lookout,” he says. Luther turns towards me, “Try to escort people out.”

I follow them inside, but we quickly split up as I go to the seating area. I see the stage, and hear the music clearer now. The blue light shined on Vanya, the whole spotlight to herself, it’s beautiful. I can feel the rise and fall of notes in my chest. My heart tries to align itself with the rhythm. It’s absolutely hypnotizing. I turn to the top row guests next to me, and they look utterly transfixed. I look back at Vanya, as I hear the other violinists drop off. Her solo. I don’t know if I have what it takes to usher these people away.

Diego and Luther run in from the side stages, only to be blasted away by a powerful wave from Vanya’s violin. The boys land somewhere in the crowd, just as the audience starts to panic and leave. I guess that works for the crowd.

The orchestra tries to make a leave too, but Vanya sends out a wave to intimidate them, causing them to collapse back into their seats. Still playing. Vanya’s skin seems to be glowing white, as she continues to play. As people rush past me to get out, she takes notice, sending out another wave. Quickly I duck down in one of the aisles.

I see Luther, Allison, and Diego huddled over on the other side of the aisle. I start to crawl over to them, when I hear the familiar rapid firing. Looking over the seat, I see the same men as the bowling alley. The orchestra screams from the gunfire, quickly running off stage. I get close enough to my siblings to hear them banter.

“What the hell happened to Klaus? He’s supposed to be on lookout,” Diego yells.

“Yeah, you surprised?” Luther asks.

I turn my head at a familiar woosh. “What’s with all the lollygagging?” Five scolds.

“Get down!” I yell, just as bullets start to hit the center aisle. He’s able to duck down in a row behind me.

“Five, what the-,” Luther begins.

“You bailed on us!” I try to yell over the gunfire. I stare expecting an answer.

“I had an errand to run,” he lies poorly. “This is not good.”

“You know these guys?” Diego asks.

“Yeah, I do,” he answers nonchalant.

“And?”

“Well…we’re screwed,” Five whispers as we see more gunmen walk down the main aisle. Fuck, Five.

Diego chucks a couple knives taking the men down quickly.

“Guys, it’s Cha-Cha!”

We turn and see Klaus as he hops into the aisle. “It’s Cha-Cha, she’s—”

“Klaus! Get down!” Luther yells just in time as bullets target where Klaus was just standing.

Five teleports onto one of their backs, causing him to shoot at their allies. I duck my head, covering my ears from the sound of bullets and the numbness in my head.

When I hear yelling, I look up to see a ghostly blue tentacle grab a gunman, squeezing him in two. Ben. I sit up quickly, seeing exactly that. Klaus summoned Ben. Holy shit, he wasn’t lying. I hear the familiar screech of the monster inside Ben as it grabs another gunman like a plaything.

“Oh my god. It’s him. Ben,” I hear Luther say astonished.

A smile grows on my face.

Ben fades away, and Klaus chuckles. “Now who’s the lookout?”

I turn to Vanya as he melody changes. Somewhere in the middle of playing, her suit turned completely white, along with her violin. She’s glowing even brighter than before. Beautiful and terrifying. The music roars in my chest, as I hear lights on the ceiling holding on for dear life.

“Oh, welcome back,” Luther remarks. “Where were you?”

I turn my head to see Diego coming back towards us. I didn’t even realize he left in all the chaos. “Honoring a memory. So how do you wanna end this thing?”

“We surround her. All right? We come at her from all angles.”

“So, it’s a suicide mission,” Klaus whispers.

“Yeah, but one of us could get through. It’s the only chance we’ve got,” Five tries to reassure. He gives me a look. We could all die, but one of us could save the world. Save each other.

“Are we all in?” Luther asks. I see my brothers nod one by one. I hesitantly nod. “All right. Allison?” Allison shakes her head no. “Stage left,” he directs to Diego. “Stage right. You guys take the front.”

I run down the aisle after Five, waiting near the beginning of the stage. As the music expands, I feel my heart beat faster. I stare in awe, feeling small. I have no powers to stop Vanya, but I have to try.

“Now!” Luther yells, his voice echoing throughout the building.

“Don’t go dying on me now,” I say to Five, feigning courage. He jumps before I can see his reaction, and I rush towards the stage. I’m arm’s length away from her before my body feels numb.

Vanya’s powers suspend my body. My heart beats irregularly, as if someone gripped it and was pumping it for me. I can’t move.

Thud.

The blood in my body turns cold.

Thud. Thud.

My whole body turns numb as the only pain I feel is in my heart.

Thud.

My eyes feel heavy…

I….the bright light…

THUD.

The whole pain in my body returns as I fell on the ground. I cough, trying to get out my arrhythmia. I take a deep breath before getting up. The others already ran on stage, and I run up to join them. Allison holds Vanya as everyone huddles around her. She’s out. Allison did it.

I drop to my knees.

“Oh, thank God,” Klaus sighs.

“We did it. We saved the world,” Luther sighs as he clutches Allison, rubbing his face against his. Allison whimpers over Vanya’s body.

“Oh,” I chuckle, “Oh my god.” Water pricks at my eyes. My heart won’t calm down yet, but everything is gonna be fine. I clutch my chest, trying to soothe it.

I look at Five, and he smiles back at me, almost in disbelief. I brush my fingers over his, as I breathe out deeply.

“Uh…Guys?”

We turn to Klaus, who’s pointing at the busted sunroof of the theater. My smile drops and my heart picks up again. The moon so clearly in the sky a second ago, had split into pieces.

“You see that big Moon rock coming towards us?”

“That’s not good,” Luther comments.

“So this is it, huh? So much for…saving the world,” Klaus mutters.

I see Five next to me, freaking out silently, picking at his brain. He gets up to pace around.

I think it’s time to accept it. No one’s time here is infinite. I look back at Vanya, sad that this was the thing to bring us all together. 

“If only Sir Reginald could see us now.”

“The Umbrella Academy,” Diego sneers. “A total failure.”

“At least we’re together at the end. As a family,” Luther says.

Finally. A family. Heh.

“This doesn’t have to be the end,” Five interjects.

We turn to him. “What are you saying, Five?”

“I think I have a way outta here. But you gotta trust me on this.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Luther says.

Diego turns around. “No.”

“Well, then, we might as well accept our fate, because in less than a minute, we’re gonna be vaporized.” I look at Five, and his eyes seem wet.

“What’s your idea, then?” Diego asks.

“We use my ability to time travel. But this time, I’ll take you with me.”

“You can do that?” I ask unsure.

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before,” he says, his voice hitching a bit.

“What’s the worse that can happen?” Diego asks us.

“You’re lookin at it. A 60-year-old man inside a child’s body, so there’s that.” Five scoffs.

Hey, it’s a way better deal than being dead.

“Oh, what the hell? I’m in,” Diego says.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m in,” Klaus agrees.

“Me too,” Luther sighs. “Allison?” She nods. “What about Ben?” he asks Klaus.

“Great, yeah, he’s in.”

“Eight?” Five asks me.

I scoff. “Yeah.”

“Okay, great. Luther, grab Vanya,” Five commands.

He picks her up in his arms. “Wait, should we be taking her? I mean, if she’s the cause of the apocalypse. Isn’t that like taking the bomb with us?”

“The apocalypse will always happen and Vanya will always be the cause, unless we take her with us and fix her,” Five reasons. We exchange glances.

We all join hands, huddled in our circle, me having Diego’s hand in my left and Five’s in my right. Five focuses on the area above us, as a small electrical storm builds. Five moans as the portal gets brighter and larger. I start to feel electricity moving though my arms and down my spine. I can feel the energy coursing through us.

“Hold on! It’s gonna get messy!” Five yells. He glances at us, almost in disbelief.

I look around the circle, and for a second, I can see all of us as kids again. United as a family.

Until the blue light engulfs us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be a little bit until I write the start of season 2, as I want to re-watch it first, but I have something planned in between that I hope you guys enjoy.


	13. Once in a Lifetime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight's life alone before Five's arrival in Dallas.   
> CW: Attempted assault

_May 1963 Dallas_

My body bounces off cold wet asphalt.

Groaning, I look up to see the Five’s portal crackle and shrink to nothing. As it dissipates, the rain starts to fall in my eyes, causing me to turn away. I look around, trying to figure out where I am. It’s just an alley. Where did we jump to?

Where did _I_ jump to?

I push the wet hair out of my face, looking around for anyone else.

“Five! Klaus! Diego!” I yell, walking out towards the front of the alley, “Allison! Luther! Anyone!”

My hair keeps pushing down in my eyes, and I run my hands through to hold it back. It looks like a shopping district. The theater across the street lists _Dr. No_ and _55 Days of Peking_. I don’t know those movies. Fuck.

When am I?

I fell my feet moving faster as I walk down the main road. The cars parked on the block are vintage. There are shops signs sticking out overhead, saying whites only.

Fuck.

I start to panic, running down the street.

“FIVE!” I call out, cupping around my mouth.

There’s no one walking down the street. It’s night. There’s no one around, not in this weather.

“Five!” I yell before my throat clenches up.

I walk into a side alley, letting my body collapse against the wall. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. The rain wipes away the hot tears on my face. I slick the hair out of my face again.

I’m alone.

I try to breathe, but it wavers.

“Fuck.”

I tilt my head towards the sky, letting the rain drops hit my eyelids.

What am I gonna do? Do I wait here? I…I just don’t know…Could I be alone here? Did I let go of them and get scattered…? I- oh god… Breathe. In… Out… In…

“What’s a filly doing by herself out here?”

A chill runs through me. I turn and see a group of white boys hovering over me, dressed in polo, hair slicked.

“Looks to me like she’s been looking for some friends,” One of them says, standing back. He nods at me. “Or for some attention, by the way she’s dressed.”

“Well, I hope we can give her some company then,” the blond one says, getting closer.

It clicks.

Scrambling to get up, I try to run out the alley, screaming for help. I barely peak my head around the corner before arms pull me back in. There’s no one.

I am alone.

“HELP!”

“Oh, honey, we are helping you,” he says so sickly sweet, I want to throw up.

The men hold my arms back as the blonde approaches me. His hand reaches for my breast, and I return the gesture by kicking his nuts. The lackies angrily slam me down on the ground, making my head spin. The taste of blood fills my mouth. I can feel every pump of my heart. My arms are pinned at my sides, and I grip their wrists, trying to claw them, anything.

The blond recovers, pulling out a pocket knife. “Stupid fucking whore,” he spits out, “Try somethin’ again and I’ll be sure to ruin that pretty face of yours.”

I try to pull my body out of their hold, but I can’t. He brushes the tip of the knife under the bottom of my neck as his other hand travels down my body. My chest freezes. My nails dig into their wrists, as my head swells with anger. My arms burn.

_I’ll rip you apart. Separate you limb from limb. I won’t stop till you’re all dead, even then it wouldn’t be enough._

His fingers touch the hem of my pants. My blood roars through my body, beating in unison.

_Sever._

He pulls my shorts and my body releases.

Screaming.

The weight of the lackies is off me as I realize I’m holding their two severed hands. They scramble over themselves to try and cover their bleeding arms, but it’s coming out too fast. I drop their hands, letting them splash in a puddle.

I am not afraid.

Blood pumps out my body in unison.

“She’s a- fuckin witch!” the chestnut-haired boy cries.

The blond rushes for me with the knife. He stabs me in the stomach, but I don’t even flinch. Warm blood runs down my skin. His eyes waver as he looks at me in disbelief. I place my hand on his face as he’s frozen with fear.

My body twitches.

His head falls, splitting in two from the middle of his face. I’m showered with his blood.

My eyes feel hot. I pull the knife out of my abdomen, tossing it on the ground. The boys slowly collapse, dead from their blood loss. The blond’s body twitches.

My head feels like it crashes back into me, as I realize what just happened.

I gag, seeing the leftovers of their bodies on the floor. Severed limbs and the boy’s brain exposed to the air. Twitching. Moving with the whispers of life left. It’s too much, I can’t hold it in. I bend over to puke in the alley, feeling more blood rush out of my stab wound. I got stabbed.

I press into my stomach, healing myself back up.

I just ripped those men apart. And felt nothing. I press harder.

I look back at the mess, throwing up again. Hot tears run down my face. I… I- killed someone.

 _I killed people._ _I wanted them dead._

The rain starts to scatter the blood, and I run.

I can’t be here. I- I- can’t be caught.

D-did I always have t-this in me? Ability to kill so heartlessly? My heart races.

I’m sorry.

I run. Nobody saw me. Please god, nobody saw me. Nobody was out before; nobody saw that right? The rain washes most of the blood off me, as I’m completely drenched. Once I’m a few blocks away, I look around my surroundings. Shivering, I examine a window sign.

“Best bakery in Dallas.”

H-how did I get to Dallas? Five got another equation wrong? I shake my head. Worry about now. It’s pouring hard and you just murdered a group of men.

Up the street I spy a hostel for women. Perhaps… I quickly walk there, knocking on the door. No answer. I wait. Nothing. I didn’t expect much, as it seems to be the middle of the night. As I turn to leave, an older Hispanic lady greets me. She looks me up and down, trying to read me.

“Come on in, mija,” she says slightly annoyed.

_June 1963 Dallas_

I learned I ended up in 1963 Dallas. Somehow, I jumped through time and space. It’s been a month since I’ve landed here, and I’ve been checking on the alley every day.

Natalia, the woman who runs the hostel, has been kind enough to let me stay without pay for a while in exchange for maid service.

I’m still terrified by that night. The men, the _blood_ , my powers…. I wish I had one of my siblings here to talk to. I feel it replay in my head. How my body lost all tension and, did all that. Natalia helped me get new clothes for the time period, and I cut my hair short in case anyone saw me from that night. I’ve been laying low. Every time I walk outside, I feel like someone will recognize me from that night.

I remembered when Five and Klaus were talking about their powers, and specifically the new abilities attached to them. They practiced. If Hargreaves were here, I’d probably have unfortunate people to experiment on. Worse…. than the others he already provided for me to heal. I plan to apply for the butchers, and maybe that would give me the inconspicuous practice I would need.

I walk through town, still nervous that any one of these people could know what I did. I cross the street, not trying to walk past _that_ spot. Once I get to the butchers, the help wanted sign encourages me to walk in.

The butcher sits behind the counter. He’s bald, but still looks fairly young. The sound of the door ringing pulls him to his feet.

“What can I help you for ma’am? Pickin’ up meat for your husband?” the butcher asks me, waving to the counter, a smile on his face. My heart twinges at ‘husband’.

“Actually,” I say, trying to calm my nerves, “I saw the help wanted sign and was hoping for some work.” His smile fades, but he quickly feigns another one up.

“Well, ma’am. I hope you know that butchering will be hard for a little lady like yourself.” His words cause me to smile wide, almost like Five does.

“I just happen to know a little bit of anatomy. It’ll make things a little easier for me.”

“Then you’re hired. I’m Adam…Let’s hope your _little_ knowledge takes you a long way.” He reaches out to shake my hand, and I firmly shake it back. You have no idea. “That’s quite a grip, there- uh, what was your name ma’am? I don’t think I caught it.”

Fuck. Eight, think.

“What’s that…, eight?” Adam asks confused. I must’ve said that out loud. I panic.

“Kate. Kate like Katheryn,” I quickly say, hoping to not be conspicuous.

“All right Kate, let’s show you the back. Can’t have a girl at the front counter ya’ now?” Adam leads me to the back. Maybe this will work out for now.

_July 1963 Dallas_

Surprisingly, I’ve had a lot of time to practice with the meat in the back. Since Adam was too busy with the front counter, it gave me a lot of time alone.

I place my hands on the half of pig, focusing on the top cut, trying to separate it from the layer of fat. I press my hands further when nothing happens, focusing on my heart. My blood starts to pump through my body in unison again, and it releases under my hands. It split, but messy. There’s still fat on the loin, and it division pushed into the ribs. I fucked up another cut.

I take a deep breath, before grabbing a knife to clean up the cut. I don’t know how I’m going to control this. I can rip it apart, but not with enough precision.

I need to be in control.

I need to control myself.

After I finish trimming it with the knife, I put my hands back on the meat. Let’s try this again.

_August 1963 Dallas_

Everyday I’ve been walking by that alley. Twice a day. When I go to work and when I come home. I walk through to be sure.

Nothing.

It’s always empty whenever I visit. The only thing I’ve noticed is a weird man with security cams aimed down the alley. He probably wonders why I keep coming back here every day, but I don’t think he saw me murder those boys. He would have reported me to the police if he did. Besides, I could just say I’m looking for a lost pet.

The continuous disappointment started to eat at me.

By mid-August, I stopped walking into the Alley, I’d just glance over at it as I walked by.

A week later, I’ve begun to ignore it.

Every time I saw that empty alley, I felt my heart sink. Anxiety would eat at me for hours afterwards. No one was coming for me. I’d find no one down there.

Five was gone. Klaus, Diego, Allison, Vanya, all of them were gone. No one would come for me. If they were all in a different time, they wouldn’t know where to find me.

Five and I… kissed last time we were alone together. I yearn to talk to him again. Just like when he went into the apocalypse. Alone again. I’d sob my heart out when I got home from work. By the time I could only dry heave when I cried, I knew it was better for me to pretend he didn’t exist. To pretend that I wasn’t abandoned again.

I need to stay focused on surviving. If that means steeling my heart away, so be it.

_September 1963 Dallas_

“Unmarried, single lady like yourself doing man’s work?” Adam asks me as I trim the fat off the short ribs. “You know what that looks like right? Almost time before everyone starts calling you a spinster.” My knife clacks against the cutting board. I grit my teeth as I give Adam the tray of ribs.

“Unmarried, single old man hiring a spinster? You know what that looks like right?” I ask, letting my anger flash in my eyes. This isn’t the first time he’s made comments like this. Every time he does it reminds me of Five. Adam feigns a cough, walking towards the front.

“I’ll take these out front for you,” he says closing the door behind them.

My arms burn with frustration. Of all my partners, no one has infuriated me with their memory like Five has these past months. Stupid Adam keeps reminding me of Five’s snarky remarks. His stupid, pretty, smug face. Abandoning me in Dallas of all fucking places. My hands grab the chuck of a cow, and dig in as my anger burns. I’ll slap him when I see him next. I think of the satisfying sound of my hand crossing his face, when I hear the meat separate. I look down, seeing the chuck cut perfectly.

Oh.

It’s anger.

_October 1963 Dallas_

I spend time in the shop, trying to control my anger. I found the more my body gets hot, and the faster and harder my blood pumps, the more precise I can separate the flesh. Feeling abandoned by Five was an easy motivator, but after a while, it just made me sad. I missed him again. I didn’t want Adam to come in a second time, asking why I was crying all over the meat. I focused my anger on Adam’s comments and on memories of Dad.

_“You’re not allowed to leave the house under any circumstance but missions, Number Eight.”_

_“Failure will not be tolerated!”_

_“Stop crying over the dog, Eight. This was only a result of your own failures.”_

_“Number Five’s insolence caused his disappearance.”_

_“Act now, Number Eight! Or you will let this man die due to your own fear!”_

_“Useless!”_

Another successful day training at work. Happy birthday, me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who's been reading! Chapter updates will happen more regularly now. I can't give an exact time frame of when they'll be posted, but I'll be working on them everyday.


	14. Right Back to Where We Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five arrives in 1963.

Five jumped through, rolling on the concrete. He grunts as he gets up, seeing the portal close behind him.

“Luther. Diego! Eight!” It zips out of existence. The sounds of gunshots makes his head turn.

_What the-_

He walks out to the front of the alley, slowed down by the sight of a Russian tank working it’s way down the street. Jets fly over in the distance, dropping bombs along the way. Five quickly ducks down towards the ground finding a newspaper amongst the rubble. 1963.

“Soviets attack the U.S?” He gets up in disbelief. “No, this can’t be right.”

A soldier coddles a civilian as American troops come down a side street. Another soldier calls out for a medic across the field.

“A kid, get down!”

Five furrows his brow at the soldier, before one of the soviets shoots down an American soldier.

“What the hell did we do now?”

He falls over, his ears ringing, as the tank behind him fired. Five peaks up, seeing Vanya rip the shell to shreds. Klaus marches up the road, summoning the ghostly remnants of American soldiers that rush the alive soviets. Klaus settles, just as Luther jumps down, screaming as he blocks a bazooka blast with his bare back. Ben screams from the top of a building as he throws soldiers around with his ghostly tentacles. Allison calls the attention of soldiers on the ground. The turn to her, and she rumors their brains to explode. Other soldiers circle Diego, firing off at him, as he manipulates the bullets back at them. He then sees her.

Eight, her eyes red, as she seemingly rips men apart without even touching them. Five watched almost in slow motion, as she gracefully walked between their corpses. It was terrifying, but admittingly entrancing. “ _How… did she do that?”_ He thought, just the red in her eyes wiped away. She locked eyes with him, excitement on her face. Even though confused, his heart skipped.

“Five! You sick son of a bitch, where the hell have you been?” Diego yells, pulling Five out of his trance. He gets ready to jump towards them when a hand pulls his shoulder back.

“If you wanna live, come with me.”

Five turns, surprised to see a white-haired Hazel. “Hazel. What the hell’s going on here?”

“There’s no time to explain,” Hazel says pointing to the sky, “Those are nukes, old-timer.” Five’s mouths “oh fuck” as streams of bomb fly through the sky. He turns back to Hazel frantic.

“What about my family?”

“You can’t save ‘em if you’re dead.”

Five looks at the nukes, then at his family, as he grabs Hazel’s hand.

They zap into a market street similar to the war ravened one they were in before, except it hasn’t been touched yet.

“Okay…what the hell was that?” Five asks his heart pounding.

“The end of the world, November 25, 1963.”

“’63..” Five mutters, his brow furrowing. He watches some people walk by, dressed certain to the time period. No… He thinks. He chuckles to himself in disbelief. “You know, Hazel, I’m no history buff, but I don’t recall there being a nuclear holocaust.”

“No shit.”

“What about my family?”

“Dead, like everyone else.” Five’s eyes widen, as his head is flooded with old memories of the 2019 apocalypse. His breath hitches a bit, as he tries to suppress his anxiety.

“And where am I now?”

“Dallas. Same street. Ten days earlier. Plenty of time to restore the timeline and save them,” Hazel says while he sits in the bench beside them.

Five mutters and paces to himself trying to figure this out. Ten days. Dallas. His siblings. Eight. Second apocalypse. Plan. He remembers Hazel and quickly takes a seat next to him.

“So where do we start?” Five asks, as his legs keep shaking.

“’We’? You’re on your own, pal. I’m just here to keep a promise to Agnes.”

Five hears the underlying sadness when he said her name. “Is she?”

“Dead.”

“Yeah.”

“Cancer. Took her quick. But we had 20 good years together. I guess forever just wasn’t in the cards.” Five felt still. He knew it hurt to love someone when time is such a fickle bitch.

“I’m sorry, Hazel.” He pauses, giving a moment of peace for Agnes. “What about the commission?”

“I quit those assholes, remember? I don’t owe ‘em the fuzz off my peaches.”

Five looks forward, silently agreeing with Hazel, until he sees something peculiar. Three extremely blonde men, seemed to be walking directly towards them.

Five stands up. “Well then, who the hell are those guys?”

“Shit,” Hazel mutters, as he places something in Five’s pocket. “Run!”

Hazel shoves the briefcase in Five’s arms just as the three men fire at them with semiautomatics. Five spatial jumps behind a car, gasping as he landed. That was too close. The briefcase crackles as Five examines the damage done to it.

“How many times did I say “bulletproof briefcases”?” he sighs as he pears over the car. The tall blond pulls up his gun to fire. Five ducks, jumping to a nearby rooftop. He lies flush, groaning at these quick jumps. I’m getting to old for this, he thought. Giving it a moment to hear the coast is clear, he rolls to his feet, jumping into a nearby alleyway. He adjusts his tie to let him breathe better as he hears sirens roll by in the distance. Another apocalypse and the commission is on our ass still. Five stops as he sees someone peering at him from behind curtains duck away. His eyes trail up to see surveillance tools on the roof. A lot of them.

Who was so quick to duck from him? Commission agent? Five hastily went to the door at the end of the alley, reading Morty’s Television and Radio. He jumped through the other side, readjusting his jacket, as he approached the door labeled for dentistry. ‘Odd,’ he thought as he tried to peer through the blinds. He knocked on the glass. The door to his right opens, a twitchy man ducked to Five’s eye level.

“What do you want?” the man asks his eyes darting at Five. Time to work his looks.

“Hi, I’m selling encyclopedias for my youth group. I was curious if—”

He closes the door on Five’s face.

Fine, he’ll do this the other way. Five jumps through the door into the man’s apartment. The man sees him, shrieking as he grabs the countertop to stabilize himself. He certainly is squirrely. Five watches half-amused as the poor guy pulls out an oyster shucking knife in self-defense.

“How did you do that?” he asks frantic.

“Don’t really have time to explain,” he responds smiling.

“You from the Pentagon? Huh?”

“Definitely not.”

“CIA? FBI. KBG?” Five scans this nut’s kitchen, spotting coffee in the pot.

“Is that fresh?” he asks as he flashes near it.

“WHAt…” the man squeals out, as he paces around the room. Five helps himself to a mug. He sips on it as he examines the next room. His brows furrow as the flavor develops on his tongue. It’s good.

“Hmm. This Colombian?” Five asks.

“It’s my own blend,” the man says calmly, still pointing at Five with the knife. Five gets a good look at the room. Newspapers cut up and taped to the walls about…UFOs. He scans the other wall to find radio equipment and blurry photos of ‘the truth’. Definitely not commission. ‘Maybe…’ he thought, ‘This can work to my advantage.’

“You ever heard of, uh, Area 51?” Five says walking across the room, “Roswell?”

The man scoffs, and chuckles as he does a little spin. Five smiles a bit, knowing he hooked him in.

The man throws the knife on a nearby table, grinning like an idiot. “Hot damn! Whoo! See, I always knew we weren’t the only ones. See, Eleanor thought my head wasn’t screwed on tight, but… but it’s all true, yeah? UFOs, crop circles…”

Five can’t help himself as the smug grin stretches across his face. “Well, the truth _is_ out there.”

“No, no, no, no, no. The… The truth, it’s…” the man stutters as he gets closer to Five. He takes a step back worried that he’ll touch him. “it’s right here in front of us. Tell me… why is it always an anal probe?” The man expresses his confusion, only a foot away from Five’s face.

“Any closer, and I’ll melt your brain,” Five snidely remarks. The man backs up quickly.

“He needs a little space. Yes. I’ll be over here.”

“All those contraptions on the roof, you built those, right?” He asks as he begins to look in depth at what the man had collected.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, sure did,” he says pointing towards the ceiling. “Yeah, I’ve been tracking anomalies in… in the atmosphere. Just waiting.”

Five turns towards him. “Waiting for what?”

“For you.” Five squints. “For all of you.”

The man tells Five of how the first anomaly happened in 1960 while he was trying to sell a couple a colored television set. He walked out of the sale to see the first arrival, and through the years saw six other energy surges in the same alleyway out back.

“Same thing every time. A bright blue light, then something appears.”

“Did you get a good look at any of them?” Five asks, already knowing it must be them.

“Yeah, the first one. And then the big, sensitive one.”

“Sensitive?” Five asks, curious by the description.

“Yeah, cried a lot, kept coming back to the alley, sat around for hours calling a woman’s name. Uh…” He snaps his fingers. “Allison.”

Five’s eyes widen. “Luther.”

“Yeah, he… he wasn’t the only one. Uh, the others came too, off and on over the years, looking for each other. Eventually, they… they stopped.” Five scans over the blurry photos the man was able to take of his siblings.

“So, my family is alive,” Five whispers to himself. There’s time before the new apocalypse to save them. “Shit.” The realization dawns on him. “I think I stranded them here. Now listen to me…” Five immediately gets to business walking up to the man, spatial jumping right in front of him.

“Elliott. Elliott. My name…” he sputters, falling over his own couch. “My name’s Elliott.”

Five jumps back. “Whatever, all right?! I got ten days to find them and save the world! Now, I need _your_ help to do that.”

“You need… my…” Elliott stumbles, as he reaches for his desk. It wasn’t helping that Five was staring at him so intently. “I always thought that this, uh, mugshot looked like arrival number four.” Elliot pulls out a torn newspaper clipping, holding it out for him to see.

“Diego,” Five says taking it from him. He skims the article. Crazy man, knives, mental institution.

“So, then, that’s helpful?”

“You have no idea,” Five says as he jumps.

Elliot is left alone, panting from the thrill of being right all these years.

Five arrived at the mental hospital, approaching the lady at the front desk for visiting. He played the boy card: his family distraught that his brother is acting this way and that Five as a worried little brother had to check up on him for their sake. While she did seem confused that he was asking for Diego specifically, bought into his ploy. Staff members directed him to a visitor’s room, assuring him that they’ll call for Diego. Five sat himself down, readjusting his jacket as he waited. His leg shook under the table, he felt like every second wasted brought them closer to their demise.

Diego was led into the room by an escort, a smile on his face as he met eyes with Five. Five’s leg stopped shaking, and he held his composure.

“Five.”

“Hey Diego.” He sat down across from him. Five makes notice of the staff standing in the room with them. “You look good in white.”

“About time you showed up.”

“How’d you know I’d be back?”

“Because that’s the kind of shit you pull,” Diego says leaning in. Five leans in as well.

“Where are the others?”

“They’re not with you?” Diego asks unblinking. Five bites the inside of his cheek.

“We’ll find them,” he whispers, nodding his head slightly. This is his fault. “How long have you been here?”

“Seventy-five days. Landed in the alley behind-,”

“Commerce and Knox,” they say in unison. Five’s mouth tightens.

“You?” Diego asks.

“I got here this morning.”

“How’d you find me?”

Five scoffs before pulling the folded paper from his pocket. “Page 16.” Diego rolls his eyes. “’Disturbed man with multiple knives arrested outside 1026 N. Beckley.’ That’s Lee Harvey Oswald’s house. Care to explain.”

Diego nods almost laughing. “Let’s just say Dallas Law Enforcement has not been supportive of my attempt to stop the assassination of…” he whispers, “John F. Kennedy.”

Five feels his patience growing thinner. “Because it hasn’t happened yet.”

“And it’s not going to happen. Not on my watch.” Five turns away unconvinced. “Look, I’ve been shaving down the bars in my room. Another day or two, and I’ll be out of this place, then I’m gonna stop Oswald and save the president. You want in, say the word,” Diego finishes, winking at Five. Five leans in closer.

“Listen to me very closely, you gibbering moron,” he whispers. “You are not going to do a goddamn thing.” Last thing Five needed was for Diego to rewrite the timeline while trying to play vigilante.

“Why not?”

“Because we have to stop the apocalypse.”

“No shit. But that doesn’t happen for another 60 years.”

“Not that apocalypse. This- is a new one,” Five says a little sheepish. “It followed us. I’ve seen it. Nuclear war, Diego, in ten days.”

Diego begins laughing, falling back in his chair. “And I’m the one they locked up, huh?” Five scoffs. “Fine, I’ll play along. What causes it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe some looney-tuned asshole with a hero complex tried to save the president and screwed everything up,” Five says his voice raising. Diego leans forward again.

“So you’re saying it worked?” Five scoffs in disbelief. “I saved the president? I knew I could do it. Okay, okay, I’ll help you.”

“Thank God.”

“After I save Kennedy. And then you swing us back a few decades so I can slit Hitler’s throat off with a butter knife.”

Five blinks. “This is why you don’t have any friends. You know what?” Five clicks his tongue. “Guard. My brother is plotting an escape. The bars of his room have been shaved down.” Diego slams his hand on the table before lunging towards Five.

“You piece of shit!”

The guards pull him down to the table before he could touch Five.

“Look, this is for your own good, Diego.”

“No! Five!”

“Listen, my brother is a very sick man. I only pray that he gets the help he so desperately needs.”

A nurse comes in with a large needle to sedate Diego.

“No, please! Not the needle! No! No! No,” Diego screams out before whimpering when the drug sets in.

Five leans down to whisper in Diego’s ear. “Be back for you later, okay? Just… Well, nighty night.”

Five was able to get clues of Luther’s whereabouts from Elliot, learning he worked at Jack Ruby’s bar. He waited until night fell to visit, figuring that’s the most likely time he would run into him. Five entered the bar, not really surprised to see the cabaret styled dancer on stage. He took a seat by the front, enjoying the show for now. Until a tap him on the shoulder, pulled his attention.

“I’m sorry kid, but we don’t allow minors here,” a waitress says trying to let him down softly. Five cringes a bit at ‘minor’, but she’s just doing her job.

“What time you get off work, doll?” he asks, trying to get off on his charm alone. She giggles before waving him off, saying it won’t hurt for him to be here for a little while.

Five watches the dancer on stage, fanning herself off in front of the crowd. She’s pretty, but not really his taste. His mind wanders. Eight. She’s gonna be hard to find, Elliot didn’t have much on her except that she used to walk by the alley frequently.

“She’s too young for you,” Luther says next to his ear. His words surprise him a bit, before Five realizes he’s been zoning out while looking at the stage. He smiles a bit.

“Nice to see you too, Luther.”

“What do you want?”

“For you to stop hovering like an ambitious stripper and sit down with me.” Luther pauses before taking the chair next to him. “How long have you been here?”

“A year, thanks to you,” Luther remarks.

“I’m sorry, Luther. I know that couldn’t have been easy.”

“I thought everybody was dead,” he says before something else grabs his attention. He stands up. “I’ve gotta go.”

“Luther, wait,” Five says grabbing Luther’s sleeve. “I get it okay. You’re not alone. We have to find the others because the world ends again in ten days. I have no idea how to stop it.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Five watches confused as Luther walks away. He quickly gets up to catch up to him.

“The hell is wrong with you, Luther? I just told you the world’s gonna end in ten days.”

“Yeah, well, you’re always saying that,” Luther says as he tries to pass Five. Five pushes back on his chest.

“And so far, I’ve been right.”

“Look, you wanna go save the world? Knock yourself out. All right? I already got a job.”

“Wait, you work in this shithole?” Five asks.

“Yeah. Well, my boss owns the place. I’m his body man.”

Fives face furrows. “What’s that? Like a masseuse or something?”

“Okay, you can make fun all you want, but I take good care of Mr. Ruby.”

“Wait, Ruby. _The_ Jack Ruby, the gangster that shot Oswald?” Five asks incredulous.

“Yeah, the one and only,” Luther says smiling towards his boss.

“Well, it finally happened. That gorilla DNA has taken over your mind.”

“Hey, watch it, all right? Jack’s a good friend.”

“And you’re Number One. _Numero Uno._ Remember?”

“There is no Number One. Not anymore. Not in 1963.” Five shakes his head. “Look, I’ve been stranded here alone for a year. What did you expect?”

Five scoffs. “I get it, all right? You watched Pogo die, the world exploded, and I marooned your big dumb ass in time. I’m sorry, okay?” He sighs, shifting tone. “But I’m asking for your help, Luther. The Umbrella Academy needs you.”

“It doesn’t need me,” Luther says shaking his head. “It never did.

“Luther, honey, Jack’s about to lose it on some half-wit. A little help?” the waitress from before asks him.

“Ah, shit,” Luther mutters under his breath as he marches towards Jack.

“Luther, wait.”

Luther quickly turns back to Five. “Listen,” he snaps, “You’re the genius who said we should jump. Right? You’re the one who got us stuck here. _And_ you’re the one who brought Vanya. So if there is a doomsday coming, she’s probably the cause. And if I was gonna do something about it, it sure as hell is _not_ gonna be with you.”

Five turns his head away as Luther leaves him. He takes a shot glass left on the bar and sips from it as he watches Luther manhandle a guy for Ruby.

“Dad should’ve left him on the moon.”

Five gets up from his stool, getting his jacket caught on the seat. He wiggles the fabric out, realizing that there’s something in his pocket. Film. Hazel must’ve put it there. Frankel Footage written on the back. He puts the film back in his pocket, thinking that he can ask Elliot about where he can get it developed.

Leaving the bar, he gets lost in his own thoughts. Diego, actively trying to fuck up the timeline even more by attempting to save Kennedy. Luther, outright rejecting to help save the world when he helped cause the end of it in the first place. He needs to figure out where everyone else is. Maybe they’ll be more useful that those imbec-

Five falls back on his ass, after bumping into a someone. He really wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking. He looked at the ground to see a torn bag and groceries littered all over the ground.

“Here, let me help you with that,” he said as he started to pick up the food that was still intact.

“Five?”

“Eight?” He finally looked at the face of the person he bumped into. It was her. Dressed for the time, her hair cut short, she looked cute in a whole new way. He couldn’t help but stare into her eyes as she looked back at him in disbelief.

Until she slapped him.

Five rubbed the stinging in his cheek, obviously furious. “What was that for!?”

“Leaving me in the 1960s!” she snapped, but her expression changed as quickly as it did before. Her eyes became glossy as she pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re finally here.” His anger simmered down and Five hugged her back.


	15. She's So Heavy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five and Eight have a chat.

I held Five close as my breath was shock. I can’t believe he’s finally here. Maybe accidentally, but this means my siblings found me. I pulled back to look at his face.

“You finally found me. Where are the others?” I asked, looking around the area. His lip’s purse.

“They were also scattered through time....” he says sheepishly. I look at him confused.

“…They’re not with you?”

His eyes dart around in his usual paranoia. “Let’s go somewhere more private to talk,” he suggests trying to lead me by my arm.

“Hold on, let’s go to my room at the hostel. It’s close by,” I say as I tug my arm back. Five tails after me. There’s an awkward silence between us as he walks next to me. I glance at him through the corner of my eye, quickly snapping my eyes forward when he turns to me.

“I see you cut your hair short,” he comments. “It looks good.”

“Thank you,” I reply not turning to him. Five stuffs his hands in his pockets.

When we get to the outside of the hostel, Five asks me which floor and jumps us inside. I cling to my bag of groceries as I start to feel lightheaded. Just when I thought I was getting used to that, Five had to disappear for months. Five’s hands grab my shoulders trying to keep me steady as I recover.

“This is your room, huh?” he asks, stuffing his hands in his pockets while analyzing the room. It’s not big, but that’s kinda the point, just to survive. My eyes dart to the dirty clothes I left on the floor, and I quickly kick them underneath my mattress.

“Five. What did you mean by ‘everyone’s scattered’ earlier?”

“Well,” he starts, clenching his jaw, “I just so happened to get everyone lost somewhere from 1960 to today. That was my bad.”

“To Today?” I ask confused.

“Well, technically ten days from now, but I just arrived today,” he says, looking for something, most likely coffee. His voice becomes somber. “Hazel sacrificed himself to get me here.”

“Oh.”

I wait before speaking again. I didn’t know Hazel well, but he was kind enough before Diego attacked him. He obviously meant enough to Five.

“Did you meet any of the others yet?”

“Luther’s working for Jack Kirby, being a general asshole, and Diego’s in a nuthouse. I haven’t run into the others yet. You’re gonna help me find them.”

“Whoa, wait. You left Diego in an asylum? A 1960’s asylum?”

“Yes.”

“You do know what they think about people like me and Klaus in this time right? Let alone the fact that they pretend to care about people’s mental health?”

“He tried to change the timeline Eight. I wasn’t gonna let him go around trying to save John F. Kennedy so he can satisfy his hero complex,” he argues, challenging me.

“It doesn’t mean you had to leave him there! Do you know if they tortured him!?”

“I’m pretty sure he tortured them,” he says sarcastically.

“This isn’t funny. You can’t dump us all throughout time and act like everything is okay when you come back. A lot more happened when you were away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried myself to sleep because I thought everybody forgot about me.” I start to feel my eyes get glossy, but I won’t stand down. I’ve been holding back too much. “I had no one, Five, no one to talk to while I panicked here in the 1960’s! I can’t talk to anyone, or ask anyone for help, I had to go into hiding-”

“Hiding?” he asks.

“Yes, Five, hiding. The people here scare me… I- I scare myself.” I sit down on my bed, feeling all my emotions finally push down on me. “…I killed people, Five.” He sits down next to me, confusion on his face. His eyes are giving me they’re full attention. I missed them. I missed when they cared.

“Eight… those people dad brought-,”

“It had nothing to do with dad.” He doesn’t say anything, but his blue eyes search my face intently. “…On the night I got here, I accidentally killed some guys. They tried to attack me, and I just lost control of myself, I- I tore them apart. I have nightmares about it. Their screams, their horrified faces, the blood. Sometimes I drown in it, it pulls me under and suffocates me. I’m so scared to lose control of myself again. That’s why I’m so mad you left me alone. I have nothing to keep me stable here. Every time I walk outside, I fear for my life, that one slip up and everyone will know who I am and what I did.”

Five puts his hand over mine.

“Eight. I know what it’s like to be lost to time, to feel like you’re alone. Being on the run and never knowing if you’ll ever see the people you love again, to live in an unfamiliar world.” His hand tightens its grip on mine. “But you’re not alone.”

I turn away to wiping the tears from my face. “That’s right, you were lost a lot longer than I was, I’m being silly.” I chuckle to myself. How could I cry here about being alone for 6 months when Five was for 45 years?

“No, that’s not what I mean. It’s never easy being alone.” His face is softens. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you when you needed me. I really fucked this one up.” I hug him, tucking my head into his neck. He hugs me back gently, where I can barely feel his fingers on my back.

“It’s okay, you’re here now.” I close my eyes as I just breathe him in. His blazer smells a little ashy, but also strongly of coffee. My hands tighten on the back of it, and his hands pull me in tighter. I miss him more than I could ever be angry. “You’ll just have to make it up to me, I guess,” I say jokingly.

“For ten days at least,” he whispers.

“What?” I ask pulling back.

“The world ends again in ten days. That’s why I need to find everyone.”

“Five, the apocalypse doesn’t happen in the 1960’s.” I say searching his face. He blinks in annoyance. “…Unless, we had something to do with it being here…” He sighs.

“I don’t know what causes this one. I just know Hazel saved my life to help me stop it,” he says before digging in his pockets. “He also gave me this as a clue.” Five puts a box in my hand, and looking at it further, I realize it’s film. “Do you know where to get it developed?” I hand it back to him.

“I sorry, I don’t.”

“I’ll just ask Elliot in the morning,” he says stuffing it back in his blazer.

“Elliot?”

“Just some UFO alien nutcase I convinced to help me. Are you sure you don’t have coffee?” He asks.

“I wouldn’t throw stones at glass houses Five,” I say teasingly, amused as his brows knit together. I get up to pull out a kettle and Wilkins instant coffee. I can already tell he’s about to reject it before he opens his mouth. “It’s better than nothing, right?” He sighs, but walks over to accept it.

“It’s kinda funny,” he says taking a sip of from the mug. He winces at the taste, but keeps drinking it.

“The coffee?”

“You said that you were afraid of your powers. When I saw you this morning- my morning, not yours- you were ripping Soviets in half without even touching them. I wouldn’t have even guessed you felt torn up inside.” He took another sip, getting used to the flavor of instant.

“I was- what? I mean, I’ve been practicing separation at the butchers, but I’m still touching stuff. To be able to do it from afar, that’s…”

“Absolutely terrifying I admit, but it was also pretty badass,” he says smiling at me. “Never guessed the healer had it in her.” We both chuckle. 

“Hey, do you think…this might be connected with your powers, and why I get dizzy when you jump? It would make sense, you know, if I can detect cells from a distance and never truly realized it.”

“Probably,” he mutters as he searches the empty mug for more.

“Maybe I can practice somehow…” I say more to myself. I gaze over at Five, but he just stares at me back. I try focusing somewhere small, like his finger, thinking of the layers of skin. A paper cut would be nothing. His icy eyes pierce at me the entire time, making me nervous. I can-t. I back down.

“Why don’t you practice in the morning? _And not on me_ ,” he says snarky, “I’ll take you back to Elliot’s to coordinate and find the others. You should probably tell your work and the hostel you’re won’t be coming back.”

“Yeah, I can do it in the morning,” I say as I stretch out my arms above my head. I think about the room for a second. Morning; Five’s spending the night here, right? I pull the top blanket off my bed, throwing it on the floor for myself. I gesture at the bed. “You can take it for the night.” Five furrows his brow.

“You’re going to sleep on the floor with one blanket?” He asks crossing his arms.

“Well, I can deal with a shitty night of sleep for one night. You haven’t slept in what, 6 months?” I say with a smile.

“There’s enough room here,” he says sitting on the bed. “We could share.” He kicks off his shoes, leaving the rest of his uniform on. I brain flushes thinking about it, but I shake my head, knowing that nothing inappropriate was insinuated. I’m getting riled over nothing.

“I guess we can try,” I say, walking to the other side.

I follow Five’s lead by basically keeping all my clothes on, except the belt around my waist. I lay down on my back next to him, and we scoot around trying to make enough room for each other on the twin, our shoulders always touching. I stare up at the ceiling as I awkwardly unfold my hands to my sides. I feel Five’s hand grace mine, and he gives it a reassuring squeeze.

“I’ll be here in case the nightmares return,” he whispers in the dark. “Bother me all you like.”

I smile, even though I know he can’t see it. “I’ll be sure to.”

His hand still covered mine as we fell asleep on my bed. For once I felt safe falling asleep in this time.

I wake up in the middle of the night, feeling Five’s hands grip my sweater tight as he speaks to himself.

“Five?” I whisper. He doesn’t respond directly to me. He must be sleep talking. I chuckle until I hear him mention the apocalypse and I feel his hands start shaking. His voice changes almost to a whimper. He’s must be having a nightmare.

I turn to my side and hold him, burying his head into my neck as I rub his back. The sweat from his forehead gets my shirt wet. Once I feel him stop trembling, I drift back to sleep with him in my arms.


End file.
